Several infrastructure projects have been launched or inaugurated in Mumbai over the last five years, in the backdrop of huge political upheavals in Maharashtra with unexpected alliances, fractured coalitions, and the overthrow of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) by the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti.
Celebrated as an engineering feat, the Mumbai Coastal Road, named Dharmveer Swarajya Rakshak Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Coastal Road, was inaugurated by chief minister Eknath Shinde with deputy chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar on 11th March. This is amongst the major infrastructure projects that have been completed in the past five years and being counted as one of the major “successes” of the state government.
This report takes a look at some of this and some of the other big infra projects, their impact, and effectiveness.
Mumbai Metro: Crucial infrastructure project that goes on
Currently there are four functional metro lines in Mumbai. The first metro to be constructed, the Blue Line from Ghatkopar to Versova, was already operational by the time either the MVA or the Mahayuti took over.
Both the Yellow Line (line 2A) and the Red Line (line 7) became operational in 2023. The latest to join the metro network is the Aqua Line (line 3), the first underground metro in Mumbai. It was expected to start in July but finally became operational in October 2024.
Read more: Three Mumbai Metro lines and counting…
Environmental impact of the metro
The citizens of Mumbai waged an almost decade long battle to save the shrinking green lungs of the city with the ‘Save Aarey’ protests which began in 2014 when the then CM of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, announced that the car shed for what is today the Aqua line would be built at the Aarey Milk Colony—a no-development zone which was turned into a Development zone in 2014.
When the MVA came to power in 2020, Uddhav Thackeray declared that the location of the shed would be moved to Kanjurmarg. But within a few hours of Eknath Shinde being sworn in as the CM came the announcement that the shed would be built at Aarey as per the original plan, a decision which seemed to come from political one-upmanship.
Dayanand Stalin of the NGO Vanashakti, who was one of the people who took the fight for Aarey to court, says, “Approximately 6000 to 8000 trees have been lost for the project and nothing has come back. They have taken away open spaces which they had promised to restore and return, they have put up those on sale also.”
The environment has suffered in other ways too, he says. For example, the Aqua line which is an underground line: the excavation work carried out for this line resulted in around 3 lakh tonnes of mud being transported in open dumpers across the city and dumped of at random places.
He also adds that the impact of things like the use of groundwater to wash the bogies inside Aarey should also be considered.
Read more: The story of Aarey forest under three governments
How effective is metro in reducing transport woes?
“The metro is convenient to use, but the station is far off from the places I want to go to. So I have to again take a rickshaw,” says Anirudh Agarwal, a 15-year-old student who stays near Marol station. He takes the metro lines to go for one of his classes, but points out that the roads outside the station are not very walkable.
This is a concern that is reflected by Vedant Mhatre, Programme Manager at Walking Project. “It is about 40 to 50 steps, but it can be a circuitous route because of pillars, shops and illegal vehicle parking. And there is no on-street level signage,” he says while describing experience at Marol where commuters switch from the Blue Line to the Aqua Line.
But he adds that he will use the new Aqua line if he wants to go to the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) because of the time efficiency. He believes that small issues will get streamlined eventually.
On the other hand, environmentalist Debi Goenka wonders why metros are required in Mumbai. He says that metros are needed in cities which do not have an otherwise robust public transport system such as local trains. Here, the suburban railways are considered to be the lifeline of Mumbai, given their connectivity and accessible fares.
“The question is who is going to use the metro? Who is it for? And who is going to pay for it?” he asks. These are pertinent questions as the maximum fare on the new line is Rs. 50 one way, rates not everyone can afford, indicating that such infrastructure projects are not designed keeping the poorest of the poor in mind.
Read more: Mumbai’s Coastal Road Project will potentially cause damages: IPCC report
Coastal Road: Infrastructure marvel or disaster?
The issue of “who are we catering to,” becomes glaringly obvious when it comes to the coastal road, which is one of the most expensive infrastructure projects costing Rs 13,000 crore. As of now no toll is being charged unless commuters choose to go via the Bandra-Worli Sea Link where they have to pay toll at the exit.
Undoubtedly, travel time will reduce significantly: from around 40 to 50 minutes to 10 minutes to reach Worli from Marine Drive. However, the project seems to privilege car owners, because currently there is no arrangement for non-motorised-transport such as walking and cycling. Environmentalists, activists and architects have been expressing their concerns about this.
Fisherfolk have vociferously expressed how the construction of the coastal road was affecting their livelihood due to destruction of their nets by barges. They had also demanded that the distance between pillars of the connector should have a navigation span of 200 metres as opposed to 60 metres to avoid accidents.
Nayna Meher, a fisherwoman, whose husband used to catch fish at Charni road and Marine Lines says that they have lost a means of livelihood because they are not allowed entry anymore. Her family is one among the many affected, some of whom have sold their boats. She also attended the protests but it was in vain.
There are plans to erect a statue of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj next to the coastal road, at Worli. Nayna was told they would be given jobs there. She wonders how they can leave behind their occupation of fishing to do these jobs.
In fact, the problems of the fishing community became a cause for a political slugfest when the project was inaugurated with DCM Devendra Fadnavis saying that the local MLA, Aditya Thackeray, had not resolved the problems of the fisherfolk while the Mahayuti did.
Each coalition claimed credit for the project. Fadnavis also said that though the plans for the coastal road had been drawn up, Uddhav Thackeray had been unable to get it going, that it had picked up momentum only after the BJP came to power both at the centre and the state.
Atal Setu: Flagship infrastructure project but poor response
Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), also known as Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewri Nhava Sheva Atal Setu, set to be completed by September 2022, faced setbacks due to the pandemic. The date of opening was pushed to January 2024, and escalating the cost by 14.9% taking it from Rs 14, 712.70 crore to Rs 16,904.43 crore according to an RTI query.
MTHL is expected to cut travel time from 2 hours to around 20 minutes from Sewri in south Mumbai to Nhava Sheva, providing faster connectivity to the Navi Mumbai International Airport under construction at Ulwe, to the Mumbai-Pune expressway, and the Mumbai-Goa highway.
The toll from Sewri to Nhave Sheva is Rs 250 and up to Ulwe is Rs 200, whereas the return trip is Rs 300. An RTI query has shown a 70 % gap between the projected and actual use of the Atal Setu. Activists believe this could be due to the high toll.
According to MMRDA, on average 30,000 vehicles used the bridge daily in the first ten days of its opening. Buses and heavy vehicles using the bridge have steadily increased, but they make up for only 7% of traffic with cars making up 93%. The bridge is not open to non-motorised transport like walking, cycling, animal carts.
Planners and activists have pointed out the ecological effects of this expensive project, which favours car owners, and even they may not be able to afford the high toll. Moreover, within six months, cracks developed on the approach road to Atal Setu, bringing into question the quality of the construction.
“Atal Setu is the classic example of how recklessly, irresponsibly you can spend money,” says Stalin. He believes this project was not needed at all and that it has been constructed to trigger a real estate boom in regions like Ulwe. He is worried that a new city may come up on wetlands on the Navi Mumbai side of the bridge so that the project can break even.
Gokhale bridge: When infrastructure planning fumbles
“अती झालं आणि हसू आलं” which translates to “when things go beyond a certain limit, they cease to be serious and become funny” embodies the the Gopal Krishna Gokhale bridge fiasco. Feeding the fount of creativity of memers and stand-up comics, it provided laughs if not an east-west connector to Mumbaikars for over a year.
A part of the infamous bridge, one of the busiest roads in the suburbs, connecting Andheri east to west, fell in 2018, killing five people and prompting a structural audit. The BMC announced the bridge would be razed to construct a new bridge, meaning that traffic got diverted to the Andheri subway and Vile Parle flyover, adding to commuter woes, till a newly constructed bridge opened in February 2024. The BMC patted themselves on their back, calling it “an engineering marvel.”
But the saga did not end there. In a bizarre twist, commuters found that the two arms of the Barfiwala flyover, which would allow vehicles going to Juhu to use the Gokhale bridge, were not aligned. What followed was a blame game between the BMC and the railways. The BMC claimed that according to new guidelines by the Union Ministry, railway overbridges (ROB) should be constructed at an additional height of two metres, leading to misalignment since the Barfiwala flyover was built earlier.
The Railways retorted that the blueprint of the Gokhale bridge presented to them for alignment did not have the Barfiwala flyover marked. Experts from IIT Bombay and the Veermata Jeejabai Technical Institute were called in to fix the problem and the bridge was finally opened in July.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated several major infrastructure projects recently, and the timing is significant: the lead-up to the assembly elections. The results of these elections will also shape the city’s infrastructure landscape.