MMRDA claims it is ready to meet the monsoon

Mumbai, Apr 30 (UNI) Ahead of the monsoon, the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) today said it has completed the task of widening and repair of over 150 km of roads under Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP) and Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP).

''Eighty per cent of work on the Eastern Express Highway and the Western Express Highway has already been completed. Work on the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR) is at the ultimate stage and the second stage work on Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) will soon begin.

''To avoid the deluge that the hit the city of Mumbai two years back, we are taking all precautions and are totally ready to meet the monsoon this year,'' said Dr T Chandrashekar, Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA.

He assured there will be no water logging on the roads this year.

Talking to reporters after inspecting the progress on eight key roads under the jurisdiction of MMRDA, Dr Chandrashekar said work on the suburban roads and pedestrian roads have been completed. Storm water drainage line of about 350 km has also been laid to facilitate the easy disposal of rain water. Work on various flyovers is also in full swing. The Dindoshi flyover and the Santacruz flyover will be completed by December, he said.

Over 50,000 Project Affected Families, due to the implementation of various MMRDA projects, have been successfully resettled. The structures on the SV road and LBS Marg are permanent and many of them are on commercial and private land. Hence these two roads are taking longer to complete, he said.

Dr Chandrashekar said for the implementation of the first phase of the Mumbai Metro (Ghatkopar-Andheri-Versova), the corridor between Ghatkopar-Asalfa and Asalfa-Andheri has been vacated. Work on the Andheri-Versova corridor is on and will soon be completed.

The 70 religious shrines coming in way of the project have also been successfully relocated to other destinations, he added.

UNI