The India Premier League (IPL), which attracts hordes of spectators, is also responsible for delaying the resurfacing of Marine Drive project.
The India Premier League (IPL), which attracts hordes of spectators, is also responsible for delaying the resurfacing of Marine Drive project. This has not only resulted in a delay of eight months but also increased the project cost by 25 per cent.
The resurfacing of Marine Drive, popularly known as Queen’s necklace, has been one of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) ambitious projects. The civic body has allotted the works to M/s RPS Infra Projects.
However, the project, which was supposed to be concluded before this monsoon, will take another eight months to complete due to various factors like the IPL, VVIP movement, assembly session etc. The civic body has claimed that the traffic police, citing these reasons, has not yet given permission for digging culverts for the project works.
“The BMC is laying five culverts and a stormwater drain for the Marine Drive resurfacing work. Of them, two culverts will be laid near the Wankhede Stadium and Princess Street Flyover Bridge. These works will have to be carried out by keeping half of the road closed. However, traffic police has been denying permission, citing various reasons, which has affected the project work,” said a senior civic official.
Apart from this, additional works like increasing the height of road dividers, milling of old cement road to lay paving fabric, use of metro barricades instead of sheet barricade, strengthening of old cement road needs to be carried out before asphalting, he added.
While this will delay the project by another eight months, its cost has also been increased by 25.85 per cent. The BMC will pay Rs 110 crore to the contractor instead of the earlier cost of Rs 86 crore. The proposal to this effect will be tabled before civic standing committee for approval on Wednesday.
In a bid to develop Marine Drive, also known as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road, the BMC has decided to relay the 4.5-km-long road and beautify it. As per the plan, 70 per cent of the stretch from Girgaum Chowpatty to Madame Cama Road will be resurfaced using mechanised mastic asphalt. The rest of the road will be concretised. This will increase the life span of the road by five to seven years.
