Mumbai: Kurla West skywalk delayed by year, contractor fined

Pedestrians cross LBS Marg at the spot where the skywalk is being built in Kurla West, on Friday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to levy a fine of Rs 25,000 on a contractor over delays in the construction of a skywalk at Kurla West. The civic body issued a work order on August 18, 2021, and the structure was required to be erected by April 2023. The BMC has now extended the deadline to April 2024.

The BMC claims the delay is due to underground utilities and residents' opposition to piling work as well as the wait for permissions from various civic departments. Activist Anil Galgali had received information regarding the skywalk, which crosses the busy Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg and connects Taximen's Colony and New Mill Road. The BMC had awarded a contract worth Rs 14.69 crore to the contractor concerned.

According to the documents acquired under the Right to Information Act, during the excavation work, it is observed that the alignment of piers was affected by various utilities, including high-tension power cables of Tata Power and Adani Electricity and a 300-mm-diameter Mahanagar Gas trunk pipeline passing from LBS Marg to Bandra Kurla Complex. There is also a civic stormwater flush drain adjacent to the pier locations which affects the pile caps of every pillar from Taximen's Colony to Surve Chowk.

To overcome these hurdles, activities such as manual excavation of the utilities, breaking of the stormwater flush drain and shifting of the utilities were carried out. This work was completed on March 17, 2022, and the actual piling work for the skywalk could only be started on site from that date. Thereafter, the reinstatement of the drain and desilting was carried out alongside foundation work till the arrival of the monsoon, on June 9, 2022.

While piling work was being carried out near the compound wall of Taximen's Colony, vibrations were felt by the residents, hence the work was frequently stopped by them. Due to the strong opposition from the residents of adjacent buildings, work on one of the piers needed to be skipped and accordingly, the drawing of the skywalk needed to be revised, which took considerable time. The work between the pillar from Surve Chowk to Shri Krishna Chowk cannot be started yet due to the flush drain and encroachments along the alignment of the skywalk.

Correspondence has been done with the hydrologic department for the shifting of the drain. However, it is learnt that the cement-concrete-road-breaking permission has not yet been received by them, hence they cannot commence the shifting. Correspondence has also been done with the L ward for the removal of structures. However, action is yet to be taken.

According to Galgali, this skywalk is essential. "Every day, thousands of citizens along the LBS Marg route risk their lives [crossing the busy street]. Also, traffic is affected due to them. Although the BMC has extended the deadline, the work must be completed before it elapses. This skywalk is an example of the civic body's lack of planning. It is surprising that it did not know what underground utilities were there at the site before starting the work. Also, not getting permission to dig the concrete road is an example of the lack of coordination between departments of the BMC. Due to all of this, citizens are suffering," he added.

August 18
Day in 2021 when work order was issued