Transport experts have warned that will only increase traffic congestion instead of mitigating the problem. ``The flyover may help speed up vehicles over three junctions, but what worries me is the shopping centre in the middle,'' says an economist and former transport adviser to the United Nations.

The mammoth flyover, nearly 1.5 kilometres long, spans the Sahar, Goldspot and Andheri-Kurla road junctions, and is due to be commissioned by the year-end.

The expert, who did not wish to be quoted, said that this project would be counter-productive. ``On the one hand, you're making a flyover to speed up traffic and on the other hand, you're creating a facility that will attract people in droves.'' He suggested closing the base of the flyover andbeautifying them with gardens, as had been done in Delhi.

The builder V M Jog plans to harvest upto 5 lakh square feet for shopping and commercial areas to recover the project costs of Rs 140 crore. Last month, huge boards heralded the opening of bookings for the hip-sounding Western Mall, at the rate of Rs 4,000 a square foot.

The mall has been positioned as an upmarket shopping locality in an eight km radius of airports, hotels, residential areas and business districts.

``What was the need for this flyover when a wider road would have sufficed? The project was obviously undertaken so that the builder could earn money out of the shopping mall,'' charges Kisan Mehta, of the Save Bombay Committee.

Madhav V Jog calls all these arguments laughable. The highway has a total of 15 lanes which immediately rule out any congestion. There are nine lanes at the ground level and six on the flyover as well as arrangements for traffic separation. Parking space for over 550 cars has been provided at the ground leveland in the basements, the largest single car park in the city.

``By investing Rs 140 crore in this Build Operate Lease Transfer (BOLT) project, we have taken a major commercial risk in today's depressed real estate market,'' says Jog. Otherwise, the government would have to divert money meant for other infrastructure projects like supplying drinking water to pay for this flyover.

Though he was quite happy with the trade response to the Western Mall, he declined to elaborate on the clientele. But this could very well be at the very heart of the matter. Last month, the traffic department and MMRDA submitted recommendations for the flyover, specifying the nature of shops in the mall, to the state urban development department. ``We have specified that no activities like community halls or department stores should be allowed as this will attract huge crowds and congestion,'' a senior traffic official told Express Newsline. But Jog says he has so far ruled out letting the space to only hotels in the mallas the cooking gas cylinders could prove to be a potential hazard.

Professor S L Dhingra, head of the IIT's civil engineering department, feels that a strict check should be observed on the types of shops proposed beneath the flyover. ``If the builder does not get the clientele like the large showrooms he's aiming for, he could let it out for other enterprises like department stores which could result in crowds under the flyover.''