Civic body fast-tracks Goregaon-Mulund road project.

The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has fast-tracked the Rs. 1,250-crore Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project by fixing its groundbreaking ceremony on April 15, 2016.

In a meeting with the civic Bridges Department on December 21, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta set a clear timeline for his engineers to schedule the inauguration just in time for the municipal elections in 2017.

The most vital link of the project, the stretch from Nahur ROB (road-over-bridge) to Bhandup Complex has been put on priority, according to the timeline set by the municipal commissioner.

Senior officials told The Hindu that the commissioner had clarified that draft tender for this stretch must reach the office of the Finance Department on December 23, and that it should be cleared by CA (finance) on December 28, and get approved by the Additional Municipal Commissioner on December 30.

Thereafter, the chief engineer must ensure tenders are opened by February 12 and reach the civic standing committee for approval by February 28, the commissioner is believed to have directed the officials.

In a set of directions to the chief engineer of the Bridges Department, Mehta ordered demarcation for certain stretches of the GMLR alignment from Oberoi Mall to Film City by January 15, 2016. The survey of the project affected persons (PAPs) has been assigned a deadline of March 10, 2016.

Most directives must be met and tenders floated by February 1, 2016. “The tenders must be finalised in 45 days and processed expeditiously in such a way that the BMC should be able to inaugurate these works by April 15, 2016,” the commissioner said in his note to the Bridges Department.

The BMC is in the process of finalising a new alignment for the GMLR, one which promises to cause limited harm to the environment.

The 14.66 km route is expected to provide much-needed east-west connectivity for the city, but had raised green concerns over harm to the eco-sensitive Aarey Colony, Saki Vihar and Bhandup Complex regions.

Greens have earlier raised concerns over the alignment of the project with the proposed tunnel or an elevated road through the Aarey Colony. “We don’t understand what is the hurry to set a timeline for the project in such clear terms when the alignment has not been finalised in consensus with the environmentalists,” said activist Rishi Agrawal.

THE HINDU