Rift between Cong,NCP ministers slows down Mumbai infra projects

The latest casualty is the plan for a freeway along the western coast to complement the newly-inaugurated eastern freeway. The western freeway was originally planned over a decade ago as a network of sea links from Versova to Nariman Point,with the Bandra-Worli sea link conceived as a part of it. However,for the past two years,Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan,who has said that capital-intensive projects like sea links are impractical,has been pushing for a coastal road instead.

Narinder Nayar,managing director at Concast (India) and a member of the state government’s empowered committee on Mumbai transformation,said,“As empowered committee members,we could feel the political undercurrents,but of late it has reduced. Obviously,political differences in infrastructure projects don’t work. A solution for this is to have just one agency implementing infrastructure projects in Mumbai.”

“These political differences pose several hurdles even at the execution stage. We have been waiting for six to eight months for the state government’s approval for the Bandra-Versova and Worli-Haji Ali sea links,” said a senior MSRDC official on condition of anonymity.

Last month,speaking at the inauguration of the eastern freeway,Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar,NCP,said implementation of vital projects such as the Worli-Haji Ali sea link should also be expedited. However,when the Chief Minister was asked about its fate,he refrained from giving a straight answer and said,“All projects that are important for the city will be implemented.”

Similarly,at one point of time,the MMRDA and MSRDC were both eying the 22-km MTHL for execution. The project,which had already undergone two failed rounds of tendering under the MSRDC by then,was stuck for nearly two years,before the state government decided to hand over the mandate to MMRDA. Even after the decision was taken,the MSRDC asked MMRDA to pay Rs 25 crore if it wanted access to any of the studies on the project conducted by the former.

“In the planning phase,projects like the MTHL do get delayed due to differences in opinion. Help is also not forthcoming when the MMRDA sends requests to the state government for land acquisition and rehabilitation of people,” said a retired senior IAS officer.

With the MTHL now being executed by MMRDA,MSRDC took up the expansion of the Thane creek bridge by adding six more lanes to ease congestion at the entrance to Navi Mumbai. The cash-strapped MSRDC had requested MMRDA to allocate funds for the construction of the Rs 400-crore Thane creek bridge. The latter,however,refused. Senior officials said the Thane creek bridge expansion would be a competitive project for MTHL and could divert some ridership,leaving potential bidders uneasy.

Even with the project of creating a water transport network from Borivali to Nariman Point and Mandwa to Ferry Wharf,there was confusion over which agency would execute it. The west coast projects had a few false starts under MSRDC. In 2010,the state government asked MMRDA to execute part of it. Then again in November 2011,the state government gave it to MSRDC. “The Chief Minister was not entirely happy with this decision. He really wanted different agencies to take up the two water transport projects,” said a retired bureaucrat.

Projects delayed

* Western freeway; no decision on whether to construct sea links or a Rs 10,000-cr coastal road.

* Rs 9,630-cr Sewri-Nhava Mumbai Trans Harbour Link stalled for nearly 2 years (2009-11) over differences on who would execute it.

* Rs 753.4-cr west coast water transport and Rs 356-cr east coast water transport projects stalled following conflict over who would execute them.

* Rs 400-cr expansion of Thane creek bridge yet to take off due to lack of funds.