2024-09-02 08:53:50
Mumbai: The cost of the proposed Goregaon-Mulund link to connect west and east Mumbai has increased by about Rs 250 crore. Under this project, two underground tunnels of 4.70 km length will be built near Film City in Goregaon East. A BMC official said that the people living where this tunnel is proposed have refused to move. Because, most of the people living here work in Film City. BMC has been trying for this for the last eight months, but when the problem was not resolved, the administration has finally decided to shift the current tunnel to a distance of 600 meters.
The change in alignment has also increased the cost and due to this an additional amount of Rs 250 crore will have to be paid for the tunnel work. At present, the total cost of the tunnel work is Rs 6301 crore, which will now increase to more than Rs 6500 crore, while the cost of construction of the link road is Rs 12013 crore.
30 to 40 houses were being affected
The Goregaon-Mulund Link Road project will be built in four phases. Under this project, two parallel tunnels of 4.70 km length will be built in Goregaon East. Both these tunnels are three lanes. The official said that the work order has also been given for the work of tunnel construction. BMC has set a deadline to complete the work of this tunnel from Goregaon Film City to Khindipada (Nahur) within five years. Both the tunnels will pass under Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The inner diameter of the tunnel is 13 meters and the depth is up to 160 meters. But there are 30 to 40 houses and other constructions of local people on the tunnel starting from Hable Pada and Nagar Mudle Pada of Film City.
The locals were offered a compensation of Rs 9.5 lakh each to shift elsewhere, but they refused to accept the amount and were adamant on not vacating the place. Due to this, the tunnel work could not start. Finally, BMC has decided to shift the tunnel work to Nagar Mudalipada, 600 meters away from Film City Hablepada. The official said that due to this the cost of the project has increased.
Tunnel boring machine will come from China
‘Tunnel boring machine’ will be brought from China to Mumbai for digging the tunnel. The machine will arrive before March 2025 and then the tunnel work will be started. Let us tell you that on July 13, during his Mumbai visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the work of this twin tunnel proposed on Goregaon-Mulund Road. It takes one to one and a half hours to travel from Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road to Mulund, Thane. With the construction of Goregaon-Mulund Link Road, this journey can be completed in fifteen to twenty minutes.
Why didn’t you assess the situation earlier?
The Goregaon-Mulund Link Road will connect Thane with the eastern and western suburbs. This will save fuel as well as time of the drivers. While planning the project, BMC did not take into account who will be affected by it. This is not the first project when BMC has had to change the alignment, there are many such examples in which the cost has increased due to the negligence of BMC officials.