The authority has till date opened the skywalks at Bandra (East), Kanjurmarg, Badlapur and the extension to the Bandra (East) skywalk.
Thirteen seems to be the unlucky number for the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA). For, although it had set a deadline to throw open that many skywalks by May last year, it could put to service of the public only four of them till date. On Tuesday, the Dahisar (East) skywalk was partially opened.
Although work on the skywalks had started on time, most of them still have a long way to see the end of it. In April last year, MMRDA officials were confident of opening 13 skywalks — eight within the Mumbai municipal limits and five in the metropolitan region — by May 2009. However, till date the authority has managed to open only four skywalks fully and six just partially.
When asked about the delay in completing the pedestrian-friendly projects, additional chief engineer Anand Pahal defended the case of MMRDA. “We had major issues of getting permission from various authorities. For instance, most of our skywalks were stuck since the railway authorities did not give us permission to work in their area. Moreover, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation asked us to stop work abruptly just before last monsoon. This also delayed the work on many skywalks,” said Pahal.
The authority has till date opened the skywalks at Bandra (East), Kanjurmarg, Badlapur and the extension to the Bandra (East) skywalk. The authority has also managed to throw open partially skywalks at Borivli (West), Ulhasnagar (West), Mira Road (East), Chembur (West), Ghatkopar (West) and Dahisar (East).
The other skywalks which the authority promised to open in May last year are the ones being constructed at Andheri (East), Santa Cruz (East), Bhandup (East) and Bandra (West). Apart from these, many other skywalks in the Mumbai metropolitan region are still to be opened. Some of them are in Ulhasnagar (East), Virar (West) and Badlapur (West).
When asked about the unrealistic deadlines for the project, Pahal said that uncertain eventualities such as underground utilities were responsible for the target being missed. However, defending the authority’s stand, he said that stiff deadlines make contractors work faster.
The skywalks so far have got mixed response from Mumbaikars.
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