Mumbai Coastal Road: No more free travel on Bandra-Worli sea link connector, have to pay Rs...

The long-awaited connection linking the Coastal Road in Mumbai with the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL) was officially opened on Thursday by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. The construction of the arch bridge, which was accomplished in three to four months, will enable the northbound vehicles to directly have access to the sea link between 7 am and 11 pm.

This is the third opening of the 10.5 km long coastal road project within a period of three months and at least another one in the near future. The project, which is expected to cost approximately Rs 13,000 crore, is expected to cut travel time between South Mumbai and the suburbs. However, the free ride on the coastal road is now over. Those vehicles proceeding directly on to the sea link will be charged a toll of Rs 100 at the Bandra side exit.

CM Shinde pointed out that the road will reduce the time from two hours to twenty minutes to get to Bandra. The inauguration ceremony was presided over by Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, Guardian Ministers Mangal Prabhat Lodha and Deepak Kesarkar, Additional Chief Secretary I S Chahal, and BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani. However, the Deputy CM, Ajit Pawar, was missing from the occasion, and Fadnavis said that he had informed the CM about it. The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray condemned the delay and cost overruns of the project and said that the MVA government under the leadership of his father, Uddhav Thackeray, would have completed the project by December 2023.

Fadnavis, however, accused the earlier Uddhav Thackeray government of lagging on the construction front and said the Mahayuti government had begun the project and had stepped up the construction work after coming to power again. The coastal road project has been planned in several parts, where the southbound section from Worli to Marine Lines was thrown open to the public on March 11, while the northbound section from Marine Lines to Lotus Jetty through Haji Ali was opened for use on June 10. The stretch from Haji Ali to Khan Abdul Gafar Khan Road was made operational without any inauguration on July 11.