Mumbai Coastal Road's southbound arm, the 'bowstring arch' bridge connecting to the Bandra-Worli sea link was inaugurated by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday afternoon. The bridge will connect Marine drive to Bandra and will provide signal-free ride to motorists.
The Coastal Road's first arm was inaugurated in March this year. It is even inaugurated in stages. The section inaugurated today is one part of the southbound arm, and next the last part is expected to be completed in next 3 to 4 months.
The event which took place at Bindu Mandhav Thackeray chowk in Worli was also attended by Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis, BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani and Iqbal Singh Chahal, former BMC chief and now the Additional Chief Secretary to the CM office.
'This is a game changing project for Mumbai. Motorists can now cover the distance from Marine Drive to Bandra in 10 minutes. Further when the Bandra-Versova arm will be completed, the motorists will reach Versova from south Mumbai in 40 minutes, which otherwise takes 2 to 3 hours," said CM Shinde at the inauguration event.
"It will save motorists time, they can spend more time with family and in return it will increase their work productivity. The decreased travel time will also save petrol consumption and fuel emission. It will also help in decreasing pollution in the city," Shinde added.
The CM also highlighted the fishermen community's demand have been addressed and the navigation span from 50 mts is increased to 150 mts.
Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis said that it is Mahayuti's project. "As a CM I had taken all the permissions from the central government during the previous government. I gave that project to Uddhav Thackeray's government. CM Eknath Shinde was also part of the government, so it is a Mahayuti project."
"The project was planned from 25 long years, but we took required clearances from central government under the leadership of PM Modi and ensured the Coastal Road is completed on time," Fadnavis added.
Both CM and Dy CM added that the government's priority has always been Mumbai's infrastructure development. The BMC has planted 1.5 lakh trees which will control pollution in Mumbai, CM Shinde said.
