Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road Extension glitch resolved

17 Nov 2022 CW Team

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has redesigned a portion of the Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road Extension project, skirting Defence land. With this, a long-standing issue that had stalled work on the project has finally been resolved, enabling the construction of the elevated road to proceed.

The implementing agency is now looking at completing the entire project by June 2023. The extension project work had commenced in 2016 with a 2019 deadline, which was being repeatedly extended over the acquisition of a small plot from the Ministry of Defence.

“We have altered the design and now do not require the Defence land any more. We have resumed construction work,” said S V R Srinivas, Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA.

Under the altered design, at the Vakola end, the elevated road will skirt the Defence land and only a portion of the structure will touch the property’s air space. Other than this, adjacent to the plot was a utility related issue for which coordination and clearance among MMRDA, civic authorities, and Defence representatives was required. In principle approval has been received from Delhi-based authorities to divert sewage lines.

“The design for cable-stayed bridge has also been finalised for the elevated corridor to cross the Western Express Highway and land beyond Vakola Junction. The extension road will pass above the existing Vakola Flyover,” said Srinivas.

The project is concepted to have seamless, signal-free connectivity between the Eastern and Western express highways.

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