BMC cancels BRTS project in suburb

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) decided to cancel the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) on the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road as the area would be serviced by the proposed metro rail. The civic body earlier planned to undertake a pilot project of the BRTS on the link road and implement a Rs 173-crore tender of cement concreting the road, shifting the underground utilities to one side of the road and resurface the service roads. But the plan was cancelled after Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority said that it plans to build a metro line on the 4 km long and 61 metre wide Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road. The civic body realises that a BRTS on the stretch would only lead to traffic chaos as the landing points of the Eastern Freeway are already on the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road, and now the MMRDA is planning a metro line on the same road. The BMC and BEST undertaking had decided to create routes on four spots: Eastern Express Highway, Western Express Highway, Sion-Trombay Road and Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road. The main carriageway portion of the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road is cement concrete and the service road asphalt. The BMC had planned to convert the service road into the BRTS route, which would be 7.5 metres wide on both sides of road, while the area occupying the footpath and bus stand would be 6 metre wide.