The Bandra-Worli Sea link

Prepared By, Amit Verma -11 Qais Ibrahim - 12 Arvind Elle - 13 Vikas Sadavarte - 14 Minal Khochare - 15

The Bandra- Worli Sea Link

INAUGURATION June 30, 2009

Landmark for Mumbai city

Among the most complex & advanced

construction projects ever in India

Major project in Mumbai metropolitan region after Mumbai-Pune expressway

Sea link project conceived in the 1990sPlagued by PILs- fishermen & environmentalists2004- Work startedBut drastic changes to 80% of the bridge designCost escalation from Rs 350 crore to Rs 1,306

crore to Rs 1,634 croreMSRDC projectExecuted by Hindustan Construction Company Illumination by Bajaj Electricals, Rs 9 crore

Project

• Built over the Mahim Bay• Connects Bandra(suburb) to Worli(central Mumbai)• 8-lane-wide• Sea link length- 5.6-km, 3.8 km over the sea

Location

Facts

• Height of the cable-stayed tower = 43-storey building• Weight= 50,000 African elephants• Steel wire used= circumference of the earth• Cement used- 90,000 tons• 16 lanes toll plaza, at the Bandra end•

How the Sea-Link Helps• Additional connectivity from city to suburbs• Reduces travel time from 1 hour+ to only 7 minutes• Decongests Mahim Causeway- 125,000 vehicles a

day• Avoids 29 traffic lights• Save Rs 100 crore a year in vehicle operating costs

Landmark

• Hot tourist spot• Key destination in 'Mumbai Darshan' package• Special open BEST buses between BKC & Worli sea

face• 8-lane bridge, with 2 dedicated bus lanes

Problems Perceived

• Major traffic snarls at Worli, no solution figured out• Additional congestion on SV road and across Lilavati

Hospital • Toll proposed- Rs 50 one-way, may dissuade a few

•

Environmental Issues

PROTECTED SPECIES ENDANGERED BY ILLEGAL TREE FELLING

Depletion of mangroves Flora and fauna suffered Reduction in oxygen Depletion of marine life as they are breeding ground for them Flooding and choking of the drains have increased. Moreover shellfish and freshwater fish have all stopped breeding.

Environmental Issues

IMPACT ON LIVELIHOOD OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES

Affects the livelihood of several fishermen families Approximately 20,000 people are dependent on fishing as an occupation. In mahim 500 are dependent and in bandra another 2,000 are affected. Their pleas were ignored We have to walk 500 square yards to reach the sea. We have no place to park our boats. We have no source of income now and reclamation is still continuing. Earlier our family used to earn around Rs. 1,500 a day but now we get only Rs. 100 a day, sometimes less. There used to be lobsters, crabs, prawns, etc. But now because ofthe pollution we do not get these.

Environmental Issues

THE IMPACT OF ADDITIONAL TRAFFIC – CONGESTION IN SOUTH MUMBAI

The road network is based on three north-south corridor Mumbai road traffic has worsened by around 400% in the last twenty years. It poses considerable health problems. The effect of major new roads attract additional traffic The persistent congestion can only be alleviated by managing demand within available capacity The most popular and environmentally clean mode of transport is electrically operated local railway network

Environmental Issues

INCREASE IN ROAD TRAFFIC A SOURCE OF POLLUTION

In Mumbai, noise pollution will increase with traffic volume The concept of encouraging unsustainable and unhealthy mode of public transport is retrogressive In Mumbai, road transport is a major source of air pollution and poses a considerable health problem Another effect of the increase in private vehicle growth is rise in noise pollution, which leads to stress related health problems and lowering of efficiency of work

CONCLUSION

It is clear that the not one but several aspects of the Environmental Regulations of the country have been violated. Secondly the project as is planned will only seek to exacerbate the problem is already severely congested. The most worrying part of the project is that studies using current data have not been used. Lastly as there has been no survey undertaken how much the citizens are willing to pay for the use of the bridge.