28 November,2015 01:40 PM IST | | Ankoor Anvekar
With traffic lanes shut to allow placing of Metro girders, state transport buses halting on the moving lane have been adding to the chaos; Traffic department has asked the bus stop to be shifted by a few hundred metres
The ongoing work of the Navi Mumbai Metro has hit yet another hurdle. The long pending work of placing girders passing over the busy stretch of the Sion-Panvel highway has been further extended.
Also read: Three critical hurdles stand in the way of the Navi Mumbai Metro
All state transport buses make a brief stop here under the Pune-bound stretch of the Belapur flyover
The city traffic department has now asked the state transport department to shift the Pune-bound bus stop under Belapur flyover a few hundred metres away from the present spot, citing heavy traffic movement at the current location as an obstacle.
Officials from the Navi Mumbai traffic department revealed that during the recent closing of few lanes for the Metro work, they witnessed heavy traffic at the end of the Belapur flyover descending towards Panvel and Pune. The reason is the bus stop under the flyover.
All state transport buses make a brief stop here under the Pune-bound stretch of the Belapur flyover. The Belapur stretch of the Sion-Panvel highway has heavy traffic flow towards Panvel and Pune.
Traffic snarls
Arvind Salve, deputy commissioner of police, Navi Mumbai Traffic department told mid-day, "For the Metro work to commence, closing of lanes is required. This leads to traffic snarls under and at the end of the flyover.
This is because the Metro rail pillar on which the girder would be placed is close to the end of the flyover. Further, buses making a brief stop under the flyover add to the traffic chaos and hence we have asked the state Transport department to shift their bus stop a few metres away from the present spot to avoid traffic snarls while the Metro work is carried out."
Two girders measuring 60 metres in length each would be placed on the pillars through the cement casting method. One lane of the busy highway on both ends would be closed near the construction site.
CIDCO was to start work on placing these two girders weighing more than 300 tonnes each, earlier this month. The metro starting from Belapur will pass over the Sion-Panvel highway and work on this stretch was incomplete due to pending permission from the Traffic department.
The two girders will be placed onto a pillar, which has been positioned in the middle of the highway opposite Konkan Bhavan in Belapur. According to CIDCO officials, installation of each girder will take at least 70-80 days' time.
Deadlines missed
The project missed its original deadline of December 2014, which was further extended to January 2016 due to several technical delays like change in Metro coach size. At present the Metro is expected to commence operation by May 2017.
Over the years, from the time the project's foundation stone was laid in 2011, the project cost of the Navi Mumbai Metro has also escalated tremendously. From R 1,985 crore in 2010, the cost went up to R 2,111 crore over the years due to technical difficulties and has finally reached around Rs 3000 crore now.
