A distance of merely 15 km, from Andheri to Borivli, would cruise five flyovers. The tenth, and most the prestigious, arching over Bandra considered opened to traffic today. As 2000 draws closer, there will be some 36 along Western Express Highway, Eastern Express Highway and Sion-Panvel Highway. A prominent and visible sign that the Shiv Sena-BJP government lorded here for five years.

Shorn of alliance formalities, the BJP loses no opportunity to drive home the point that the ``achievement'' is that of a BJP man, Nitin Gadkari, public works department minister. A go-getter, he created the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to take charge of some projects normally handled by the PWD. These days Gadkari brandishes ``good work andprofessionalism'' certificates from industrialist Ratan Tata. It's a foregone conclusion that flyovers in Mumbai will be a major campaign point in the forthcoming general and assembly elections.

The Sena is rather petulant about its partners' so-called achievement. The pressure to deliver on electoral promises builds up every passing day as its major projects faltered at the starting block itself -- the grand slum rehousing plan for four million slumdwellers in Mumbai has yet to get off, the cheap meal `zunka bhakar' scheme failed and was given a burial last month, its dream project of employment to 27 lakh youth that provoked many young fence-sitters to vote for the party remains a blue-print.

The flyovers have generated acerbic debates. The entire project of 55 flyovers pegged at Rs 1,500-1,600 crore is the largest infrastructure initiative in recent years. With contracts ranging from Rs 8 crore to Rs 21 crore each, flyovers have meant huge profits for nearly 20 contractors and construction companies --many of which got a new lease of life.

The projected benefits when all flyovers are in place: faster movement of traffic with average speeds of 30 km/hour, reduced travel time and fuel cost saving of Rs 140 crore a year.

In the comprehensive Rs 4,700 crore Mumbai Urban Transport Plan-II covering the road, rail and waterways networks, flyover spend was barely one per cent. As Debi Goenka, environmentalist, says, ``No one knows on what basis these 55 locations were selected.'' He points out that the Jog report, taken to be the feasibility study, lists 50 of these locations. Coincidentally, Jog Construction was subsequently awarded the contract for one of the longest flyovers with permission to commercially exploit space beneath it.

Key questions are being raised about the very basis for a flyover-driven traffic system. That too when, as the WS Aitkins 1994 study for the World Bank, pointed out the flyover network will cater to barely 28 per cent of all traffic on the highways, almost exclusively privatetraffic, while 68 per cent use the service roads along the highways.

Gadkari treats criticism with dismisiveness. They are political showpieces and he knows the value of visibility. As Shirish Patel, independent and reputed architect, remarked, ``Flyovers are highly visible while waterpipes, sewage lines and important drainage services hae no visibility at all. Work on flyovers can be rapidly begun and finished.'' In time for the next round of elections.