Goregaon-Mulund Link Road in Mumbai secures all mandatory clearances

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC’s) Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project, which connects the eastern and western suburbs through Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), has secured all mandatory clearances. Construction work is set to start shortly. The mega Rs 40 billion road project will run from Goregaon to Mulund via two underground parallel tunnels of 4.7 km in SGNP and will be the fourth east-to-west connector in the city after Ghodbunder Road (Borivali to Thane), Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road and Santacruz-Chembur Link Road. It has already received a green signal from the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL), the Maharashtra State Board of Wildlife and Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ). The approvals came with many riders, such as NBWL directing the BMC to build animal passages inside the park and in the Aarey Colony forest, which is part of the park's ESZ, and that the tunnels be constructed underground. A new force ventilation technology will be used for tunnels, as a result of which there will be no outlets for ventilation above the ground so as not to disturb the wildlife. Mulund, in central Mumbai, has emerged as one of the fastest-growing suburbs for residential development. As Navin Makhija, Managing Director, The Wadhwa Group, says, “The GMLR project will be a huge add-on to Mulund’s infrastructure and will significantly boost the real-estate market. It will be the fourth east-west corridor connecting the suburbs and will cut down travel time between Mulund and Goregaon.” And Rajat Rastogi, Executive Director, Runwal Group, adds, “GMLR will be a game-changer for Mulund, Nahur, Airoli and Kanjurmarg. The Mulund-Nahur belt is already a high-appreciation realty market.”Recently, BMC in its budget for 2019-20 alloted a Rs 1 billion fund for the completion of GMLR. The six-lane road will start at Oberoi Mall, go 5 m under SGNP, and end at the Eastern Express Highway beyond Nahur station. The proposed twin-tunnel road is designed for 3+3 lanes; the length, including the approach road, is 5.5 km (4.7 km length of the tunnel); and the total length of the GMLR will be 14 km.