Mumbai Update - project news from Mumbai [Archive]

kshatriya

August 6th, 2004, 04:20 AM

Hind Mills spins 9 lakh sq ft land deal
NAUZER BHARUCHA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ FRIDAY, AUGUST 06, 2004 02:29:15 AM ]

MUMBAI: In what is perhaps the biggest joint venture on private mill land, the Thackerseys, owners of Hindoostan Spinning and Weaving Mills, have tied up with the CL Raheja group to exploit a whopping nine lakh sq feet of real estate at Jacob Circle near Mahalaxmi station.

It will eclipse the Godrej Greens residential project spread over 6.5 lakh sq ft at Simplex Mills, Saat Rasta.

With this joint venture, more than 20 lakh sq ft of development is expected to come up in a one sq km radius in the Mahalaxmi-Jacob Circle-Saat Rasta area as the proprietors of Brady Mills are also scouting around to develop 4 lakh sq ft.

"Once these projects come up, there will be tremendous strain on the infrastructure," a property consultant said, pointing to the traffic jams in the area, especially on the Mahalaxmi station bridge.

Industry sources told Times News Network that an agreement between the Thackerseys and the Raheja group was almost through and a public notice was recently issued notifying any person having a claim to or right in this property to come forward within seven days.

The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction cleared the mill's development proposal on April 1,which had earlier been held up due to legal complications.

While Ravi Raheja, director of KRaheja Corp, refused to comment, senior vice-president (finance) of the Thackersey group M P Ghaisas said that the land would be developed for both residential and commercial use.

The BMC's building proposal department has already cleared the construction of two residential high-rises on a part of the land. "Each building will have five wings and 23 floors," a civic official said.

Market sources claimed a shopping mall was also in the pipeline. "There are possible plans for a Shoppers' Stop or Giant (belong-ing to the RPG group) setting up a branch here," property watchers said.

About a decade ago, a portion of Hindoostan Mills' land was allowed to be developed for the construction of the 39-storey Kalpataru Heights, a skyscraper that has become a prominent landmark on the central Mumbai skyline.

Suncity

August 6th, 2004, 07:00 PM

Poor Nauzer Bharucha. Must be very upset.

kshatriya

August 6th, 2004, 07:48 PM

But they should improve the road infrastructure in this area simultaneously...bang in the centre of Mumbai, it will affect traffic everywhere.

kshatriya

August 6th, 2004, 07:57 PM

An interesting article on the development of Mumbai -

Temptation Island
SMITA DESHMUKH

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, AUGUST 05, 2004 11:50:13 PM ]

Slum capital of India. Death of a city. Metropolis choked. Mumbai's been so defined, time and again. But she survives. And she flourishes. Recently, IT czar Azim Premji expressed his concern about the lack of infrastructure in Bangalore. Possible relocation to Mumbai? Why not? Presenting Mumbai as you've never seen her before -- seductress!

Bangalore and Hyderabad, who'd been hogging most of the techie attention until now, are suddenly facing the wrath of IT bigwigs like Wipro head honcho Azim Premji. Frustrated with Bangalore's poor infrastructure, high rates of employee attrition and fat salary bills, Premji recently stated that Wipro's future investments may be made outside Bangalore for "there are opportunities outside Karnataka where talent is available, infrastructure is better and wages are lower." Here's Mumbai's big chance to consolidate it's status as India's commercial capital.

The city's resurgence is being pushed by none other than the Maharashtra government. A mega strategy is being heralded, backed with a strong implementation plan. Consider this. The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link will be kickstarted soon, connecting Sewri to Nhava Sheva. The much-delayed Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Light Rail System is being rejuvenated. The deadlock over the Wadala Truck Terminus is being resolved and beach town Gorai is all set to become a mega Special Entertainment Zone.

Will political changes affect the momentum of these initiatives? "An autonomous Citizen's Action Group (CAG) is already created, which will meet four times a year to monitor progress," asserts Sanjay Ubale, member secretary, Mumbai task force.

Also, with full-time electricity and professional work ethics, its advantage Mumbai. And the shift is visible. With the emergence of the Mumbai-Pune-Nashik triangle, manufacturing jobs are moving out and the city is now being promoted by the state government as a service centre, its primary focus banking, IT, biotech and entertainment.

Can it get any better than this?

Mumbai, meri jaan...

Neeraj Roy, CEO, hungama.com : Seepz, Andheri, was constructed 15 years ago and after that there has been no new infrastructure. Mumbai can become a regional player in the hardware market thanks to our strategic location. Navi Mumbai can pose a challenge to Gurgao
n as a BPO hub.

Alyque Padamsee, member, CAG : Since there are people like Anand Mahindra, Jamshyed Godrej, Noel Tata and credible NGOs, my faith in the action plan of Mumbai is firm. But it is a giant task. Quality of life is my buzzword for the government. Corporate India should run Mumbai.

Vijay Mahajan, CEO, Bombay First : The formation of the Mumbai Development Fund, is a good sign. Funds can be raised from the Centre, state government, BMC etc. It is based on the ringed sense theory i.e. money from this fund cannot be diverted elsewhere.

How well do you know me?

Till the end of the Second World War, the city covered only about 67 sq km from Colaba to Mahim and Sion. In 1950, the city expanded northward with the inclusion of portions of Salsette Island, and by 1957 a number of suburban towns -- including Bandra, Andheri, Malad and Borivali -- and some villages of Thane were incorporated into Greater Bombay, with an area of 169 square miles (434 sq km).

Take a look at me now
Investors, take note. Mumbai's never seemed so promising

Health: The BMC, state government, charitable trusts and private owners are all offering state-of-the-art health facilities. Official estimates say the city has 33,000 beds, four tertiary care hospitals, several peripheral hospitals. Many speciality and super-speciality hospitals are spread across town, from Mulund in the north to South Mumbai, with high quality equipment.

Infrastructure: 24 hour operation of the suburban railway is a boon. A dedicated BEST bus lane is to be intitiated on major routes. The state government is working on a metro rail plan. MSRDC is firm on completing the West Island Freeway connecting Bandra to Nariman Point by a sea bridge, despite the teething problems. The four lane Mumbai-Nashik highway will connect the two satellite towns faster. Both the eastern and western highways are up for expansion, and ready to be converted into six lanes on each side. 50,000 houses are expected to be built for slumdwellers in the next six months under MUTP, MUIP project. "We are working on the limited period tenancy policy to promote rental housing. Also, income tax concessions for those renting out premises is being considered. All the civic laws are being looked into again to create a vibrant retail policy to make the city an attractive investment destination," adds Ubale.

Entertainment Hub: Home to Bollywood, with multiplexes springing up all across the suburban stretch of the city that has triggered off a revolution that's low on moolah and high on idea. That apart, the city offers a nightlife with pubs, discos, lounge bars and innumerable restaurants offering every imaginable cuisine. Mumbai also has a Film City that facilitates outdoor shootings and a state government that's making efforts to woo potential filmmakers to consider the city for shooting locations.

Business Districts: Beyond Nariman Point and Ballard Estate, Mumbai is buzzing with new hubs. Parel is developing as an infotainment destination, complete with hotels, malls and sport bars. Bandra-Kurla Complex has ensured the rates in Nariman Point fall and Andheri-Kurla is all about more space and less price. With a new elevated road planned, as an arm to the Andheri flyover, reaching the international airport, the situation on the Central Business District front looks upbeat.

Suncity

August 6th, 2004, 08:55 PM

The more the cities compete for business the better they will get.

Suncity

August 6th, 2004, 08:58 PM

Architect stalls NTC mill land plan

Architect stalls NTC mill land plan says textile corp owes him Rs 35 lakh

Express News Service

Mumbai, July 22: THE first hurdle in the National Textile Corporation’s (NTC) grand project to develop prime mill land comes from unexpected quarters—a former architect of the company and a pending petition in the Bombay High Court.

Moreshwar Kelkar’s grouse against the NTC is not new. His petition was filed in 2003, challenging the corporation’s process of selection of architects by inviting tenders.

Kelkar claims he has been working on the NTC project for the last 22 years and has dues worth Rs 35 lakh pending from the government undertaking.

Kelkar’s petition is awaiting a final order. ‘‘So far, the NTC has not even bothered to file a reply to the petition but an ad interim order of the high court granted a stay on the work for the NTC,’’ said Kelkar’s advocate, Ajit Jakhadi.

Kelkar is now planning to move for a notice of motion asking the court to restrain the undertaking from going ahead with its plans. His plea maintains that the NTC’s proceedings at this stage would amount to contempt of court.

The petition alleges that Kelkar was appointed by the NTC, had held various meetings with the government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation as an NTC architect and even submitted a detailed report on development and sale of surplus land for the NTC.

Kelkar had also submitted to the court a letter signed by the NTC’s chief managing director, dealing with the terms of payment to the petitioner as a consulting architect.

THE National Textile Corporation is a Central public sector undertaking. It recently invited Expressions of Interest from leading real estate consultants and developers for the development of the surplus land of its 20 textile mills in the prime localities of Dadar, Lalbaug and Parel for residential or government purposes.

Suncity

August 6th, 2004, 09:01 PM

Wadias to lay thrust on real estate

Bombay Dyeing is restructuring its textile business and will be eventually moving out its mill operations from the high-cost manufacturing place in Mumbai to a site in Maharashtra. "We see real estate development as a opportunity and we want to create this as a different enterprise and business model,"Wadia said.

The company will be developing a commercial and residential complex at its plant locations in Dadar and Worli. As the first step, the textile manufacturing activity is being consolidated at the Textile Mill, Worli and the manufacturing activity at Spring Mill at Dadar is being wound down.

Later, the company intends to move out its entire operations from Worli to a low-cost operations area in Maharashtra. It is understood that it is considering two destinations Talegaon or Ranjangaon in Maharashtra. The company has obtained the necessary clearances to develop 4.5 million square feet area and will be investing Rs 75-80 crore towards developing the land. The company has given voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to the 1,500 employees and has spend Rs 56 crore towards this.

Hindustani

August 6th, 2004, 09:31 PM

nithin

August 7th, 2004, 12:50 AM

yes you are right, but for now delhi is the most modern city of indai with the gbest infrastructure.

Suncity

August 7th, 2004, 08:01 AM

kshatriya

August 8th, 2004, 02:02 AM

Are Bangalore and Hyderabad losing out to Mumbai?

Kshatriya.. We all know sooner or later Mumbai is going to take over from Hyderabad, Bangalore. It was just a matter of time Mumbai was gonna get serious about infrastructure. Looks like they are. I dont think there is any city that can compete with Mumbai. It is truly a mother of all indian cities.
Yeah about time they got serious about infrastructure here...but I don't think Mumbai is the only city with potential anymore. I think the NCR, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkatta and even Ahmedabad and Kochi are all coming up very nicely. Even neighbouring Navi Mumbai is coming up so beautifully. Several drastic problems have to be solved in Mumbai yet, and it's quite poorly planned. While several things have been 'planned', till they are implemented Mumbai still lags behind some other Indian cities which have recently moved ahead rapidly. Here's MMRDA's plan to improve Mumbai's infrastructure - the MUIP (Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project). 'If' this and other plans materialize as planned, no doubt Mumbai will be hard to beat.

Mumbai road project blueprint drawn

BS Regional Bureau in Mumbai | August 19, 2003 09:45 IST

Four projects worth Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) will be undertaken under the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project that is to be implemented in three parts by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority's and completed by 2006.

These include the skybus project that entails an elevated light rail transit system between Mumbai's Andheri and Kurla suburbs, elevated roads in the western and eastern suburbs that connect the international airport complex with the western and eastern express highways, construction of subways on the two expressways as well as linking roads between the two, and the construction of a road network around the SEEPZ (Santa Cruz) and MIDC (Andheri) areas.

The projects entail creation of 14 new flyover-bridges, six elevated roads, eight rail over bridges (ROBs) and 15 pedestrian subways.

A total of 52 roads are proposed in the eastern suburbs, including six elevated roads, 10 flyovers, one ROB, 14 pedestrian subways and eight vehicular subways.

For the western suburbs, 60 roads have been identified, including 17 flyovers, seven ROBs, five pedestrian subways and one vehicular subway.

The first phase of the MUIP (to be undertaken in this fiscal) will accord priority to 35 of these roads in the eastern suburbs and 22 in the western suburbs. Work on these will start immediately after the monsoons this year.

The Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry president and developer Niranjan Hiranandani said that: "The MUIP will change the face of Mumbai and help the city acquire infrastructure of international standards. Money is no constraint for implementing the MUIP projects. What we need now is a strong political will."

MCHI honorary secretary Sunil Mantri added that Mumbai provides 40 per cent of the revenues collected by the Central government and 60 per cent of the collections by the state government.

"Improvement (removal of bottlenecks and encroachments) is planned for 250 kms of roads to ensure smooth traffic flow from the eastern suburbs to the west. The inadequacy of east-west connectivity has been a major constraint for the city."

The project also looks at widening existing roads.

The roads to be widened are: The eastern freeway museum right up to the Sewri railway station, the Sewri to BPT pipe-line gate, truck terminal road junction to Anik Panjerpole link, E Moses Road from Worli Naka up to Mahalaxmi Station, Ambedkar Road (Sion to Byculla), Mahim Sion link to Mahim Creek (extension of the Senapati Bapat road) which will be a six lane road.

Mobility of traffic from south to north will also be improved through a road widening exercise. The MUIP will also include the resettlement of 50,000 hutments that are spread over the areas where the road development will take place, according to Mantri.

The Public Works Department of the state government has listed a total of 1,900 encroachments.

In the western suburbs, encroachments are mainly seen in the northern suburbs of Borivali, Malad and Kandivli, especially around the flyovers.

Similarly, for the eastern suburbs, the number of encroachments as per the PWD is about 935, mostly between the Suman Nagar and Amar Mahal junctions.

Apart from upgrading Mumbai's road network, the MUIP also seeks to regulate parking norms in the city after a thorough study to ensure a better road network.

Mumbai's road map after completion of MUIP

Western suburbs

Route to Sahar International Airport to see a marked change when the connecting road between the airport and the western express highway will have a six-lane and a four-lane elevated road.
A Western relief road from Bandra to Dahisar.
A link along the sea front between Bandra's Carter Road and Juhu Road to reduce pressure on Linking Road and S V Road.
Widening and beautification of the western express highway.
Road widening and flyovers on S V Road at Andheri, Malad, Kandivli and Borivali.
Link between western and eastern suburbs

Light rail transport between Andheri and Ghatkopar to replace the earlier Sky Bus Metro Project. This is expected to cover the distance in 15 minutes as against the current travel time of 45 minutes to an hour.
Andheri-Ghatkopar link road with six to eight lanes including an elevated road from Chakala Gurudwara to Saki Naka.
Jogeshwari-Vikroli Link road project.
Mulund-Goregaon link road to pass through Aarey Colony instead of Sanjay Gandhi National Park Road.
Improvements in the island city to include:

Widening of Ambedkar Road and construction of five flyovers on this road.
Removal of encroachment and construction of pavements on Senapati Bapat Road and E Moses Road.

kshatriya

August 8th, 2004, 02:04 AM

Hmm..look at this news:

Bangalore takes concrete steps, nets 40 pc market share

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, AUGUST 07, 2004 01:13:00 AM ]

BANGALORE: It's the kind of construction boom one hasn't seen in a decade. Bangalore is witnessing hectic activity both in the commercial and residential space. And it's so hectic that metros like Mumbai and Delhi are not even a close second.

Consider some statistics: Real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle India estimates that in 2003, the take up of commercial space in Bangalore was approximately 4 million sq ft, against the total of 10 million sq ft of demand on a pan-India basis, translating into a 40 per cent share of the total market. The consultancy says the current year is likely to witness similar figures.

Schwing Stetter India, a ready mix concrete equipment manufacturer, says Bangalore today consumes one-third of the total ready mix concrete produced in India every month.

"Lots of companies, especially BPOs, are coming into Bangalore demanding space. It's not construction for the sake of construction. The whole activity is demand driven," says Ravi Puravankara, managing director of Puravankara Projects, a real estate development company.

And being labour intensive, BPOs also inevitably translate into huge demand for residential property.

According to Manisha Grover, associate director in Jones Lang LaSalle India, over 14 million sq ft of space is being constructed this year across 80 odd projects as part of housing being developed by private developers.

"And as per the projects launched in the market already, this number stands at approximately 10 million sq ft for 2005, and would only go up with new projects coming into the market," she says.

Bangalore's huge demand for ready-mix concrete, a method of construction that is 15-20 per cent costlier than the traditional way, is also a reflection of the need to construct a property quickly.

"The Bangalore consumer is not willing to wait. He wants to finish his projects quickly," says V.G. Sakthi Kumar, vice president (marketing) in Schwing Stetter India. Of India's total consumption of ready-mix concrete of 3.5 lakh cubic mts a month, Bangalore accounts for 1 lakh cubic mts.

In fact, Schwing Stetter's plant installed at the L&T factory in Bangalore created a world record recently by notching up a production of 13,005 cubic mts of concrete in one month — twice the average amount of concrete that is produced by similar plants worldwide. A phenomenon made possible by the boom in local demand.
Wow! Maybe you should start a Bangalore projects thread....Good for Bangalore.

kshatriya

August 8th, 2004, 02:10 AM

^But wonder whether that would change once this development in Mumbai takes off....

Suncity

August 8th, 2004, 04:53 PM

Between June 1998 to July 2004, the Mumbai Fire Brigade inspected 1,150 tall residential and commercial structures including over 300 which were 25 storeys or more.

“Notices were issued to the 1,108 that were unsafe and most have still not complied with the fire safety norms,” says Assistant Divisional Fire Officer and in-charge of highrise cell in south Mumbai, P D Karguppikar.

“The next one-and-a half years will see massive construction of tall buildings. Unfortunately, these buildings care little about putting their own fire installations in place,” says Karguppikar.

The figures strengthen his claim. The city and suburbs have 4,000 highrises — buildings that are above 24 metres. With the growing threat of infernos, the Mumbai Fire Brigade is now bracing itself for more such eventualities.

Note (Highrise in Mumbai is defined as being over 24 m that is roughly 8 storeys)

Hindustani

August 8th, 2004, 08:20 PM

Looks very good. Looks like Madh Island development is going the rest of the Mumbai way.

theguy

August 10th, 2004, 06:18 AM

this madh island , malad is in mumbai???? :?

Suncity

August 10th, 2004, 04:34 PM

this madh island , malad is in mumbai???? :?

Yes

theguy

August 11th, 2004, 08:55 AM

thanks fer the info suncity :)

Suncity

August 19th, 2004, 05:11 PM

The real thing in Dubai

http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~kambiza/images/2001/BurjArab1.jpg

Now the baby replica called HM Suites, Bandra, Mumbai (is this a concept??)

http://www.dellatecnica.com/projects/G01_l.jpg

Builders: Gowani
Architects: Dellatechnica http://www.dellatecnica.com/

Hindustani

August 19th, 2004, 05:29 PM

HaHaHa.. That wouldn't be a bad idea. it will be called Burj-al-Mumbai!!! in Bandra

zuhahmed

August 19th, 2004, 05:35 PM

wow that is very similar

kshatriya

August 19th, 2004, 05:42 PM

Looks awful. Hate these copies.

centralized pandemonium

August 19th, 2004, 05:56 PM

This sucks. They should come up with something original.

theguy

August 19th, 2004, 07:38 PM

looks great but the real thing in dubai is just stunning u have to see it to beleive it

ViMo

August 19th, 2004, 08:27 PM

The funny part is, that people will pay good money to buy apartments in a copy of the original. How can they??? :weirdo:

Ubermensch

August 20th, 2004, 06:56 PM

kshatriya

August 20th, 2004, 07:01 PM

http://web.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images38/SANTA208200494515.jpg

Shinde to raise state debt to Rs 1 lakh Cr!
By: Yogesh Naik
August 20, 2004

Illustration: Saeed Ansari
If Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde continues in his role of Santa Claus, freely doling out pre-poll sops, bureaucrats say the state’s debt will cross the Rs 1 lakh crore mark by October-end.

They feel the carrots dangled by Shinde are severely bleeding the exchequer, which is already reeling under a debt of Rs 94,000 crore.

Shinde’s politics of largesse has seen declarations of free electricity to farmers, debt waivers for marginal farmers, interest subsidy for mills and packages for malnourished children.

Sources in the finance department say that he has made more than 35 ‘populist’ decisions in the past three weeks.

The decision to give aid to malnourished children in two districts will cost Rs 222 crore, while free electricity to farmers will cost the state Rs 1,500 crore.

The overall impact of these decisions will be a huge financial burden on the state, crossing Rs 2,200 crore.

According to a senior finance official, the government could soon find it difficult to pay its dues. The state will be forced to borrow again, which means loans will increase and debt will shoot up, he added.

Officials in the finance department seem to have given up. Principal Secretary (finance) Chitkala Zutshi is on a foreign tour and Additional Chief Secretary O P Gehrotra is officiating in her place.

He has repeatedly told the government that there is no money for these schemes.

It’s very obvious that the decisions have been taken keeping the polls in mind. But Shinde denies this. In one of his interactions with the media, he said, “Every government takes decisions on the eve of polls.

We have taken many decisions in the last four-and-a-half years and we have every right to take decisions till the code of conduct is imposed. No one can stop us from taking decisions for the welfare of the common people.”

Last week, a senior minister of the Nationalist Congress Party said, “We know that we won’t come back to power. So we are making life difficult for the Shiv Sena-BJP combine when they take over the government.”

Most of the decisions taken by the Shinde government do not have budgetary provisions, but the new government will have to make provisions for them.

Sources feel that the new government will roll back the decision to give free power to farmers, which is the biggest burden, on the pretext of opposition from the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Rs 94,000 crore

The current debt

The CM’s promises could add:

Rs 1,500 cr
Free power to farmers

Rs 1,000 cr
Drought relief

Rs 345 cr
Debt waivers

Rs 30 cr
Marine Drive beautification

Rs 10 cr
Sops for handloom cooperatives

Ubermensch

August 20th, 2004, 07:12 PM

All I can say is "DAMN IDIOTS".

Politicians seriously should be charged with treason, they'll do anything to come to power.

Suncity

August 20th, 2004, 07:20 PM

He is not alone. All the states are mismanaging funds.

kshatriya

August 20th, 2004, 07:28 PM

Please post information here about any of these developments please. Really interested learning about whats planned and whats going on!

1) Heard of the eatern and western experssway development and possibly linking the two.
2) Also the bandra - worli sea link is just phase I of a bigger project all the way to colaba.
3) and what might happen to the docks.. hoping they build a highway along the coast.
4) the Nhava Sewri bridge (25kms to link bombay to the uran)
Hi, where in Mumbai do you live? Nice to have another Mumbaikar on here.

1) Yeah two link roads linking eastern and western highways are under construction. Jogeshwari-Vikhroli and Santacruz-Chembur, 6-lane concrete roads.
2) Right-o. Check this link (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=118398).

As for the Nhava Sewri bridge, or Trans-Harbour link, they haven't even got to designing the bridge yet and ATM it's suspended. For more info on road projects in Mumbai visit www.msrdc.org (http://www.msrdc.org/projects/Default.htm). Here's a newspice on infrastructure development in Mumbai -

Mumbai road project blueprint drawn

BS Regional Bureau in Mumbai | August 19, 2003 09:45 IST

Four projects worth Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) will be undertaken under the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project that is to be implemented in three parts by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority's and completed by 2006.

These include the skybus project that entails an elevated light rail transit system between Mumbai's Andheri and Kurla suburbs, elevated roads in the western and eastern suburbs that connect the international airport complex with the western and eastern express highways, construction of subways on the two expressways as well as linking roads between the two, and the construction of a road network around the SEEPZ (Santa Cruz) and MIDC (Andheri) areas.

The projects entail creation of 14 new flyover-bridges, six elevated roads, eight rail over bridges (ROBs) and 15 pedestrian subways.

A total of 52 roads are proposed in the eastern suburbs, including six elevated roads, 10 flyovers, one ROB, 14 pedestrian subways and eight vehicular subways.

For the western suburbs, 60 roads have been identified, including 17 flyovers, seven ROBs, five pedestrian subways and one vehicular subway.

The first phase of the MUIP (to be undertaken in this fiscal) will accord priority to 35 of these roads in the eastern suburbs and 22 in the western suburbs. Work on these will start immediately after the monsoons this year.

The Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry president and developer Niranjan Hiranandani said that: "The MUIP will change the face of Mumbai and help the city acquire infrastructure of international standards. Money is no constraint for implementing the MUIP projects. What we need now is a strong political will."

MCHI honorary secretary Sunil Mantri added that Mumbai provides 40 per cent of the revenues collected by the Central government and 60 per cent of the collections by the state government.

"Improvement (removal of bottlenecks and encroachments) is planned for 250 kms of roads to ensure smooth traffic flow from the eastern suburbs to the west. The inadequacy of east-west connectivity has been a major constraint for the city."

The project also looks at widening existing roads.

The roads to be widened are: The eastern freeway museum right up to the Sewri railway station, the Sewri to BPT pipe-line gate, truck terminal road junction to Anik Panjerpole link, E Moses Road from Worli Naka up to Mahalaxmi Station, Ambedkar Road (Sion to Byculla), Mahim Sion link to Mahim Creek (extension of the Senapati Bapat road) which will be a six lane road.

Mobility of traffic from south to north will also be improved through a road widening exercise. The MUIP will also include the resettlement of 50,000 hutments that are spread over the areas where the road development will take place, according to Mantri.

The Public Works Department of the state government has listed a total of 1,900 encroachments.

In the western suburbs, encroachments are mainly seen in the northern suburbs of Borivali, Malad and Kandivli, especially around the flyovers.

Similarly, for the eastern suburbs, the number of encroachments as per the PWD is about 935, mostly between the Suman Nagar and Amar Mahal junctions.

Apart from upgrading Mumbai's road network, the MUIP also seeks to regulate parking norms in the city after a thorough study to ensure a better road network.

Mumbai's road map after completion of MUIP

Western suburbs

Route to Sahar International Airport to see a marked change when the connecting road between the airport and the western express highway will have a six-lane and a four-lane elevated road.

A Western relief road from Bandra to Dahisar.

A link along the sea front between Bandra's Carter Road and Juhu Road to reduce pressure on Linking Road and S V Road.

Widening and beautification of the western express highway.

Road widening and flyovers on S V Road at Andheri, Malad, Kandivli and Borivali.

Link between western and eastern suburbs

Light rail transport between Andheri and Ghatkopar to replace the earlier Sky Bus Metro Project. This is expected to cover the distance in 15 minutes as against the current travel time of 45 minutes to an hour.

Andheri-Ghatkopar link road with six to eight lanes including an elevated road from Chakala Gurudwara to Saki Naka.

Jogeshwari-Vikroli Link road project.

Mulund-Goregaon link road to pass through Aarey Colony instead of Sanjay Gandhi National Park Road.

Improvements in the island city to include:

Widening of Ambedkar Road and construction of five flyovers on this road.

Removal of encroachment and construction of pavements on Senapati Bapat Road and E Moses Road.

Suncity

August 20th, 2004, 07:31 PM

Kshatriya is our resident expert in Mumbai. He is so good! But he is leaving Mumbai...

BTW I hope you keep contributing on this board.

:-(

kshatriya

August 20th, 2004, 07:38 PM

Yeah I'm leaving Mumbai in 2 weeks! :ohno: :cry:

Ubermensch

August 20th, 2004, 07:53 PM

Thanks for the info.. where are you going?

kshatriya

August 20th, 2004, 07:54 PM

I just hope Mumbai gets relieved of these political gimmicks soon after the elections and the city itself is given more attention...

kshatriya

August 20th, 2004, 08:00 PM

Thanks for the info.. where are you going?
I'll be joining an engineering college in Mohali. Where do you live in Mumbai?

Ubermensch

August 20th, 2004, 08:02 PM

kshatriya

August 20th, 2004, 08:07 PM

Suncity

August 20th, 2004, 08:48 PM

Nice.. heard good things about mohali.

I'm studing in the US right now. Will be back in Bombay in a few yrs for good. In Bombay, i used to live in Bandra, Bandstand. Now, I live in Prabhadevi Seaface.

That's great!!!

Can you identify these tall buildings in Bandra pls?

http://home.att.net/~bappu_dg/bandraskyline.jpg

http://home.att.net/~bappu_dg/bandraskyline2.jpg

And these in Prabhadevi

http://home.att.net/~dakku/Picture_096.jpg

Ubermensch

August 20th, 2004, 09:05 PM

Most definately.. I recognize most of these buildings.

That's great!!!

The ones in bandra i have seen but dont know their names. Sorry.

And these in Prabhadevi

http://home.att.net/~dakku/Picture_096.jpg

1) The 40 story huge white building is the Raheja Tower

2) Smaller one next to it is also around 30 stories is the new TATA building. Sorry dont know the exact names. This one looks shorter than the Bombay Dyeing towers next to it but is actually taller.

3) The 2 tall brownish buildings in the middle are around 24 stories tall. They are the Bombay Dyeing Towers (also called the Twin Towers)

Thats all I can really make out from these pictures

kronik

August 20th, 2004, 09:34 PM

And this is when the Congress is ruling at the Center. Hopefully Sonia ji and put some sense into them.

Local politicians have a chronically limited vision and selfish interests, and whatever they do, the progress of the state/nation is the last thing on their mind.
He is just doing what he has been bred to do as a politician, bilk the country.

MSEB, the state electricity board has opposed the move of giving free power.

MSEB engineers oppose power sop for farmers (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/807120.cms)

The state government's decision to give free power to farmers has drawn a lot of flak from engineers of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board who have warned of increase in load shedding and power thefts in coming days.

Shrikant Mane, general secretary of MSEB Engineers Association and consultant to All India Power Engineers Federation, New Delhi, said that the decision will also lead the state government to bankruptcy.

He pointed out that since farmers had to pay for electricity they were making efforts to conserve power with help of energy efficient pumps and capacitors. "Once power becomes free there will be no restriction on its use or wastage", he remarked. He stated in case of interruption in supply, the MSEB will have to give preference to restoring supply to paying consumers first as a result of which farmers will suffer.

He warned that the concept of power theft would become redundant and it will be impossible to punish farmers who illegally tapped electricity. Besides putting undue pressure on the supply network, service to paying consumers would definitely get affected, Mane stated.

Mane cautioned that money for free electricity will be finally recovered from other paying consumers and industries forcing them to turn to private power companies. "MSEB will go to the dogs", he warned.

Suncity

August 20th, 2004, 11:12 PM

Most definately.. I recognize most of these buildings.

1) The 40 story huge white building is the Raheja Tower

2) Smaller one next to it is also around 30 stories is the new TATA building. Sorry dont know the exact names. This one looks shorter than the Bombay Dyeing towers next to it but is actually taller.

3) The 2 tall brownish buildings in the middle are around 24 stories tall. They are the Bombay Dyeing Towers (also called the Twin Towers)

Thats all I can really make out from these pictures

Great

I am assuming that the Raheja Tower is the same as the Tanna Residency?

The Tata building is the Peregrine.

I didn't know that the Twin Towers are also called Bombay dyeing.

Thanks a lot....

kshatriya

August 22nd, 2004, 09:32 PM

Thirty companies to revamp Mumbai roads

About 30 companies will be working simultaneously for one year to change the face of Mumbai’s roads. The Maharashtra Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has called for multiple tenders for the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP) to ensure it is completed in 14 months.

Reliance Construction has bagged the biggest tender worth Rs 32.7 crore, followed by Valecha Construction and Ashoka Builders.

While 27 companies have been finalised, another five to six will soon be appointed.

“Multiple companies will ensure completion of work strictly within the deadline. It is risky to give it to one big company as the project could then take four-five years to finish,” said joint metropolitan commissioner of MMRDA, Dr T Chandrasekhar.

MMRDA has deliberately divided the project into several parts and appointed several companies for different sections.

While seven companies will be developing the roads around Sahar airport, the Western Express Highway has been allotted to eight other companies.

Dr Chandrasekhar added, “Traffic will be diverted along certain routes while the project is being completed and we cannot afford to extend the diversion by further delaying the project.”

Tenders worth Rs 800 crore have been invited for the first phase of the Rs 2,600-crore MUIP, which is slated to be completed by April 2005. The exhaustive tendering process has delayed the project by a month and it is now expected to begin on March 1.

Companies appointed in the airport region

• R P Shah company
• Kamal and Brahmaputra Builders
• Vishal Builders
• Shapoorji Pallonji
• Prakash Bldg Associates
• Mahaveer Construction

North-South Corridor

• Main Linking Road: Reliance Construction, Shapoorji Pallonji,
Valecha Construction

• SV Road: Valecha Construction

• LBS Marg: Ashoka Builder in two phases (Sion to Kanjurmarg, Kanjurmarg to Mulund)

• Western Express Highway: Subhash Infrastructure (Delhi), Maheshwari and Supreme, Reliance Construction, a company
from Uttar Pradesh, Mahaveer and Atlanta Infrastructure

• Eastern Express Highway: Prakash Building Associates,
MVRGL, Jaihind Construction

East-West Corridor

• Sion-Mahim Link Road: Vishal Amar Builders
• Santacruz-Chembur Link Road: BMC
• Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road: RP Shah
• Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road: Company yet to be appointed
• Ghatkopar-Mulund Link Road: Company yet to be appointed

Ubermensch

August 23rd, 2004, 12:48 AM

Jai

August 23rd, 2004, 02:23 AM

Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has invited global bids for development and operation of the Rs 970.3 crore Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar mass rapid transit system (MRTS) in the city. (http://ww1.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/august/90612.htm)

Technical and financial bids have been invited on build-own-operate and transfer (BOOT) basis through public private partnership for the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar MRTS, MMRDA sources said here today.

MMRDA minimum equity stake in the project would be 26 and the majority would be held by the developer.

The total length of the project would be 12.70 km which includes 3.360 km from Versova to Andheri, 8.083 km from Andheri to Ghatkopar and 1.265 km from domestic airport to Sahar Airport.

The stations under the project include Andheri, Western Express Highway, Chakala, Airport Road, Marol Naka, Sakinaka, Subhash Nagar, Asalpha Road, Ghatkopar and Sahar Car Depot, Azad Nagar, D N Nagar and Versova (Terminus).

MMRDA had carried out the study under the Indo-German Technical Co-operation by entrusting the consultancy work to TEWET in association with DE-Consult & TCS.

After examining a number of alternative corridors and alignments, the study recommended a mass transit corridor from Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar as potentially bankable and economically viable.

It suggested a combination of mostly elevated and partly underground system with stations spaced at intervals of approximately one km along the route.

Jai

August 23rd, 2004, 02:25 AM

Thane-Turbhe rail link to be operational soon (http://www.cybernoon.com/DisplayArticle.asp?section=fromthepress&subsection=inbombay&xfile=August2004_inbombay_standard4114)

A STAFF REPORTER | Saturday, August 21, 2004 12:42:0 IST

The much-awaited local train service between Thane and Turbhe in Navi Mumbai is expected to start next month with both the Union railway ministry and CIDCO pushing hard to get the green signal before the pre-poll code of code of conduct comes into force.

The much-awaited local train service between Thane and Turbhe in Navi Mumbai is expected to start next month with both the Union railway ministry and CIDCO pushing hard to get the green signal before the pre-poll code of code of conduct comes into force. CIDCO shares 67 per cent of the total expenditure while the rest would be borne by the railways.

"The construction process is going on in a brisk pace. We will start services as quickly as possible," said a Central Railway (CR) official. A special team from the Centre will be visiting the stretch to study the safety aspect of the project.

New tracks have been laid between the 23 kilometre stretch that would cover five stations-Thane, Airoli, Ghansoli, Koparkhairne and Turbhe.

The tracks would be connected to the Vashi station via Sanpada route. Revamp works are in their last lap at platform no. 1 and 2 at the Vashi railway station. Interestingly, with the opening of the new rail route, Thane-Vashi road traffic can breathe easy. "Industry boom in Navi Mumbai has increased traffic levels tremendously. Thereby the road conditions are pathetic. The accident graph in the highway has also shot up in the last couple of years," said Chandrakant Kharatmal, chief RTO officer, Thane. He further added, "The train service will surely lessen the load."

The project faced several bottlenecks like shortage of maintenance staff. "It is a short stretch. Something like a 100 kms project needs fresh workforce beforehand," said a railway official.

Hindustani

August 23rd, 2004, 10:48 PM

Its seems like Finally Mumbai is going places. Hopefully all these projects are completed in time.

indian

August 23rd, 2004, 10:53 PM

I wish mumbai gets a subway. Life would be so much better with it. I heard that there was a plan to build a Rs 5000 crore subway between Colaba and Bandra. Don't know if it has made any progress.

kronik

August 23rd, 2004, 11:29 PM

I have seen a gazillion pictures of Mumbai buildings and cityscapes, but I have rarely come across pictures of the urban rail system.

There are these maps:

http://www.irfca.org/faq/map/mumbai.jpg

http://www.urbanrail.net/as/mumb/mumbai-map.gif

urban Rail is an excellent resource.

MUMBAI Maharashtra India (http://www.urbanrail.net/as/mumb/mumbai.htm)

Suncity

August 24th, 2004, 03:38 AM

http://www.kalpataru.com/horizon/perspective3.jpg

For more pics and info check out

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=128467

A view of Worli!!!

http://www.bengalweb.com/skyline/mumbai/aerialmumbai1.JPG

kshatriya

August 25th, 2004, 11:06 AM

Woah looks nice. Awesome Worli aerial too!!

kshatriya

August 25th, 2004, 11:17 AM

http://ww1.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/august/90735.htm

Daggers drawn
By: Yogesh Naik and Deepak Lokhande
August 24, 2004

The meeting lasted for over an hour. Within a huge room at the Sahyadri State Guesthouse, five members of the Citizens’ Action Group collared the state government and asked the eight representatives present, for some straight answers. Among the issues discussed were the ubiquitous potholes.

Yogesh Naik and Deepak Lokhande give you an account

Citizens’ Action Group

http://ww1.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images38/anand1482004152240.jpg
Anand Mahindra,
Mahindra and Mahindra group
Blasted the state government and asked how Mumbai was going to become a world-class city with so many potholed roads.

F T Khorakiwala,
owner, Akbarally’s
Wanted to know how the BMC could approve tenders below project costs. He said it suggested that either project costs were inflated or there were malpractices going on.

Sharda Dwivedi, historian
Wanted Marine Drive to be an art precinct.

Also present

* Noel Tata and Homi Sethna from the Tata Group
* Justice Jahagirdar and Minoo Shroff

State representatives

http://ww1.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/Images30/johny.jpg
Johny Joseph,
municipal commissioner
Tried to defend his organisation with a typically bureaucratic reply. He said that the BMC had appointed experts and technical committees to look into the issue of BMC tenders. He however admitted that the problem had persisted for the last 20 years and promised action.

http://ww1.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images13/chandra1.jpg
T Chandrashekar,
MMRDA additional commissioner
Said if Sharda Dwivedi's suggestion was accepted, every small beautification issue would have to be cleared through the Heritage Committee, which would be cumbersome and time-consuming.
He also made a brief presentation of 10 major projects undertaken by the MMRDA to ensure a better quality of life to citizens in Mumbai.

http://ww1.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images20/nawab1362003111215.jpg
Nawab Malik,
guardian minister for Mumbai
Wanted Bandra and Kurla terminus to be included in the Vision Mumbai plan. Malik’s contention was that the group was looking at only bigger projects, while several small projects could ensure a better picture.

http://ww1.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images38/sushil1782004114616.jpg
Sushilkumar Shinde,
chief minister
Intended to undertake many more beautification projects like the one at Marine Drive. He expressed satisfaction over the progress made by the Group so far.

http://ww1.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images24/sanjay25920039472.jpg
Sanjay Ubale,
special projects secretary
Briefed the meeting about progress made by the state government on issues discussed in earlier meetings. Tenders for the Ghatkopar Versova Light Rail Transit System floated, prequalification bid for Trans Harbour Link, redevelopment of cessed buildings and sanction of escalated expenditure on Bandra Worli Sea link, were among the efforts listed by Ubale.

MMRDA projects under Vision Mumbai

1 North-South, East-West corridor
2 Dedicated bus lanes
3 Metro rail system
4 Light Rail Transport System
5 Marine Drive beautification drive
6 Interstate bus and truck terminal, Wadala
7 Entertainment zone at Gorai
8 Eastern Freeway
9 Improvement of suburban railway stations
10 Development of waterfronts

What is CAG

The Citizens’ Action Group (CAG) was set up to monitor development projects in Mumbai. The action group has on its rolls industrialists, academics, advertising men, sports and media persons. A Vision Mumbai report was prepared in August 2003 with recommendations for transforming Mumbai into a slick, beautiful city. In September, it was presented to the CM, who appointed Sanjay Ubale, to head the project.

kshatriya

August 25th, 2004, 01:33 PM

MUIP project kickstarts in Malad

By: Pooja Kumar
August 25, 2004

The width of SV Road in Malad is only 8.5 metres as compared to the desirable 27.5 metres

Work on the Maharashtra Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP) project to widen SV Road and the Western Express Highway from Bandra to Dahisar has begun in Malad.

The Rs 2,600 crore plan, called the Western Relief Road, will increase the width of the two arterial roads to decongest them.

The project, which started in Feb 2004, is expected to be complete by Aug 2005.

“In Mumbai, everyday 250 vehicles are added to the roads,” says R Ramana, senior transportation planner, MMRDA, which launched MUIP. “The project is designed keeping in mind the increase in the traffic population till 2021,” he adds.

The work will be carried out in three phases without hampering traffic. “Road widening on SV Road and the Highway will take place on one side of the road at a time so that traffic des not get blocked or diverted,” says AV Gangurde, project manager, MMRDA.

SV Road

“There are four bottlenecks on SV Road, at Goregaon, Malad, Kandivli and Borivli railway stations. According to the Development Plan, the width of SV Road should be more than 27.4 metres,” says Gangurde.

“However, in Malad, SV Road is as narrow as 8.5 metres and so traffic congestion is maximum here,” he says.

As per the plan, SV Road is uniformly being widened to 27.4 metres. There will be three lanes each to and from Bandra, a total of six lanes of 3.5 metres each along with place for a footpath. The lanes will be demarcated so that vehicles don’t change lanes.

However, officials say they are finding it hard to carry out the work in Malad.

“The road is very narrow and there is so much construction on the edge of the road that there is hardly any work space alongside the road “There is no space to locate the workers in the area,” says Ramana.

He adds, “Also, there are many constructions along SV Road that have to be demolished and relocated, which is a time-consuming process.”

“The BMC and the traffic police are supporting the plan and we are sure work will be completed as scheduled,” says Ramana.

Western Express Highway

The highway, from Bandra to Santacruz airport is being widened from 60 to 72 metres.

From Santacruz to Dahisar its width will be increased from 45-60 metres to 61 metres. There will be a total of eight lanes, four lanes each to and from Bandra to Dahisar.

“There are no lane markers now,” says Ramana, adding, “Once the Highway is widened, lanes will be marked as per the speed limits.”

He explains that while the first lane close to the divider will have a speed limit of 40 km per hour, the next two will have a speed limit of 60 to 80 kmph; the fourth lane will be for overtaking.

What the project aims to do

• Widen important roads as per the BMC’s Development Plan (DP)

• Improvement of footpaths along arterial roads between Bandra and Dahisar

• Completion of roads that have been proposed in the DP but not completed

• Flyovers at bottleneck points in Goregaon, Malad and Kandivli

• Pedestrian facilities at identified locations like Goregaon, Malad and Kandivli

2,600 crore
Total cost of the project

1,900 crore
Cost of widening SV Road and Western Express Highway

700 crore
To be spent on improvement of the footpaths and to make connecting links

Ubermensch

August 25th, 2004, 05:22 PM

Good Stuff,,

I really wish we could ask about the removal of a height limit for commercial buildings in the CBD's only.

kshatriya

August 25th, 2004, 08:25 PM

Good Stuff,,

I really wish we could ask about the removal of a height limit for commercial buildings in the CBD's only.
Yeah me too...

Hindustani

August 25th, 2004, 08:27 PM

Suncity....Great Worli Seaface Areal shot. & who says Mumbai lacks greenary :)

kshatriya

August 25th, 2004, 08:29 PM

How tall is the tallest in that pic?

Suncity

August 25th, 2004, 09:06 PM

How tall is the tallest in that pic?

Looks like it is a 40 storey under construction..

Suncity

August 25th, 2004, 09:08 PM

Long overdue..

Hindustani

August 25th, 2004, 09:41 PM

A city and its builder

A CORRESPONDENT

Navi Mumbai, the alternative city created on the mainland to decongest Mumbai, has begun to attract businesses and families, and its builder, CIDCO, has recorded remarkable growth.

THE most ambitious plan to decongest Mumbai was the one to create Navi Mumbai (New Mumbai), an alternative urban settlement on the mainland that would remain accessible to the island city. Conceived in the 1970s, Navi Mumbai was seen as the answer to many of Mumbai's problems. This was to be a city that would contain all that Mumbai offered but would be clean, orderly, efficient and well-planned. The plan was to motivate businesses in Mumbai, which were finding it increasingly difficult to expand, to move to this 21st century city. The expectation was that Mumbai, which was bursting at its seams, would get decongested and concentrate on redeveloping itself. Unfortunately, the incentives to move just did not add up enough for the businesses to relocate. Mumbai has a charm like no other city.

The Palm Beach expressway developed by CIDCO in Navi Mumbai.

For many years after it was created, Navi Mumbai wore a somewhat desolate look. The huge chrome and stone suburban railway stations, which were designed to cater to the well-heeled corporate crowd, were barely used. And the broad roads and high-tech buildings started looking a little run down. But with the construction of residential complexes, Navi Mumbai has now come alive and has begun to draw a significant amount of interest from the very people that once shunned it.

The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited (CIDCO) is singularly responsible for Navi Mumbai's success. CIDCO was formed with the aim of creating a counter-magnet to Mumbai. And that is exactly what it is in the process of accomplishing. To begin with, the Government of Maharashtra acquired 344 square kilometres of land on the mainland across Thane Creek and handed it over to CIDCO to create 14 nodes. Indicative of CIDCO's success in the venture is the fact that from a body with an initial subscribed capital of Rs.3.95 crores it has grown to one with a staggering Rs.600 crores-plus annual turnover. Its total investment in city building projects today is to the tune of Rs.7,972 crores.

Vinay Mohan Lal, Chairman of CIDCO.

Owing to CIDCO's meticulous planning, Navi Mumbai today has 1.3 million people who opted to relocate to its pleasant environs. Sixty-seven per cent of these families live in ownership houses and 74 per cent reside in CIDCO houses. Of the working population, 63 per cent is employed within the city, with 60 per cent engaged in office-oriented jobs. Seventy-five per cent of the residents are "fully satisfied with the various social facilities, especially the educational facilities," says CIDCO Chairman Vinay Mohan Lal.

Quality housing at affordable prices has been CIDCO's main aim and this has become its key selling point. Housing in Navi Mumbai is available for people of every income group, including the affluent non-resident Indians (NRIs). One of the main reasons why houses in Navi Mumbai became popular is that CIDCO provided land at concessional prices for educational establishments. "Good schools and colleges are sought after, and many Mumbai families have found that the new township has met their demands in more ways than one,'' Vinay Mohan Lal told Frontline. "Moreover, the roads never get flooded and the environment is clean. People have realised the merits of this area.''

With regard to civic amenities such as water and power supply and waste disposal, the planners have taken care to provide independent facilities for each node. For instance, aerated lagoon-type sewerage treatment plants have been developed for each node and the effluent discharge conforms to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board standards. Reliable and adequate power supply has been provided to the city, keeping in mind future needs. Similarly, water supply systems have been developed with prudence. Potable water is supplied in abundance; distribution networks with storage tanks have been established in each node.

For those who still have to commute to Mumbai, CIDCO has kept its commitment of setting up a mass rapid transit system covering 200 km, spread over six rail corridors and 30 stations. The corridors connect Navi Mumbai with Mumbai and Thane. The Mankhurd-Panvel rail corridor has been commissioned. This would be one of the biggest rail projects post-Independence, says Mohan Lal. The initiative to promote water transport between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai was aborted owing to some internal problems. The idea was to operate hovercraft services between the Gateway of India and Belapur, which would cater to south Mumbai businesses. Efforts are on to resume the services.

According to Mohan Lal, the city's progress is based on economic centres. In the heart of the city, a central business district has been developed on 575 hectares. "It is 20 times larger than Nariman Point, the central business district area in south Mumbai," the Chairman said. There are already several economic and government administrative activities concentrated in the area. The Reserve Bank of India, nationalised banks, the Konkan Bhavan, the Cotton Corporation of India and the Konkan Railway have offices there.

The "New Millennium City'' in Navi Mumbai is becoming popular. It forms a major part of the "Knowledge Corridor'' that spans Mumbai and Pune. One of the first projects of CIDCO after it created Navi Mumbai was to build the International Infotech Park at Vashi and the International Technology Park at Belapur. Both are well-equipped Information Technology centres. "The jewel of Navi Mumbai's IT sector is Reliance Infocom's Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City at Koparkhairane,'' says Mohan Lal. The IT companies in Navi Mumbai include Wipro Ltd, CMC, Tata Consultancy Services, Aptech, Track Mail, ICICI Infotech and PCS.

After creating a modern-day city, CIDCO is now moving on to other ventures. The Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone (NMSEZ) and a new international airport are two of its latest projects. NMSEZ, says Mohan Lal, is a deemed foreign territory for the purposes of trade operations, duties and tariffs. "It reflects the latest and perhaps the finest thinking so far on India's export policy and may even present the future of industrial development strategy." The Government of India (GoI) gave its approval in May 2000 for setting up a Special Export Zone (SEZ) in Navi Mumbai and asked the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) to fulfil the criteria laid down in the EXIM policy. The GoM prepared a detailed policy directive regarding the various incentives applicable to SEZs set up in Maharashtra. Incidentally, Maharashtra is the first State to announce such a policy. The GoI granted formal approval to the project in 2002. The GoM then appointed CIDCO as the nodal agency for implementing the NMSEZ project.

A task force was created within CIDCO to implement the SEZ project, in January 2001. The total project area is approximately 4,377 ha. Of this, 1,850 ha is in the Regional Park Zone and is meant for low-intensity development such as housing, golf courses and entertainment facilities. The remaining area of approximately 2,527 ha is meant for industrial activity. About 95 per cent of this land is already in CIDCO's possession.

While Mumbai's Sahar airport is able to handle most of the international air traffic, building a second international airport in Navi Mumbai has become necessary to ease the pressure. CIDCO has reserved land for the project at a strategic location, easily accessible by all modes of transport. After it gets the clearance from the Union Cabinet, CIDCO will undertake work on the airport project. "We aim to complete both the SEZ and the airport by 2007," Mohan Lal says.

Over the past three decades CIDCO, has expanded its horizons beyond Navi Mumbai. It has taken up similar tasks elsewhere in Maharashtra, at New Aurangabad, New Nanded, New Nashik, Waluj Mahanagar, Meghboot-New Nagpir Oras and Vasai-Virar. Having become a premier infrastructure development agency, it has also undertaken consultancy in infrastructure development and planning in Kerala, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2025/images/20031219002808901.jpg
Palm Beach Expressway, Mumbai-Navi Mumbai.

kshatriya

August 25th, 2004, 10:46 PM

Navi Mumbai sea-link may get Shinde`s nod

IL&FS seen front-runner for the project

Renni Abraham / Mumbai August 06,2004

The six-lane trans-harbour sea link connecting Navi Mumbai with Mumbai city (at Sewri in south Mumbai) is set to become a reality with the proposal awaiting Maharashtra chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s nod.

According to senior government officials, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) will be appointed as the nodal agency for the 24-km long project, which will be undertaken on a build operate and transfer (BOT) basis.

The expressions of interest will be invited by next fortnight before the ‘code of conduct’ for the state Assembly elections comes into force.

Infrastructure development institution Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) and MSRDC had expressed interest to construct the sea-link. IL&FS had proposed to construct the project at no cost in lieu of toll rights for 40 years.

The state government had fine-tuned the details of the project at its last meeting held on July 27.

As the nodal agency for the project, MSRDC is out of the race and will issue notices inviting expressions of interest from private consortiums.

IL&FS, among others, is expected to participate in the bidding process. The bidding will be finalised on the basis of the least concessions sought from the state.

“The least concession means, whichever group bids for the project and seeks the least number of years as toll rights and state concessions for constructing the proposed sea-link would become the first choice,” a senior government official said.

Similarly, the state government has stipulated that the ceiling rate for the tolls will be decided on the basis of the wholesale price index.

Unlike what IL&FS had been seeking, the project would now have to be undertaken on a BOT basis.

The Union environment ministry is expected to give the environmental clearance for the Rs 3,600 crore project soon following a meeting held recently between the Central and state government officials.

MSRDC had submitted the environmental impact assessment report for the project to the Union government on November 3, 2003.

According to informed sources, IL&FS and other developers hope to cash in on the realty boom that is bound to follow the completion of the sea-link project.

The project is expected to reduce the travel time between the two cities to less than 30 minutes.

Ubermensch

August 25th, 2004, 11:01 PM

Suncity

August 25th, 2004, 11:28 PM

Now this needs to happen. I'm working on a couple of maps.. road and rail for bombay. Will have the proposed, approved and inprogress developments around the city. might be useful for us to monitor progress

also maybe later on when i get a change.. could map the 150+ odd building by areas around the map.. to get us a better understanding of the emerging skyline.

I will be buying property in Bombay is a couple of years.. this map might help :)

Wish we could take a helicopter ride over Mumbai and take some nice aerial pics. I bet you Mumbai will look amazing from the air. Unfortunately the only good quality aerial of Mumbai I have found is of Dharavi.!!!

ViMo

August 25th, 2004, 11:59 PM

Let's guess....I think Kalptaru Horizon - which is around 25 stories, will cross the 100 mt height mark. That's the conclusion I derive after looking at the jpeg. Anyways, it's sad, nobody in India tabulates the heights of the buildings. Not even the construction companies! :weirdo:

Ubermensch

August 26th, 2004, 12:06 AM

• Ghatkopar-Mulund Link Road: Company yet to be appointed

This road falls on the eatern express away.. what are they talking about??

Suncity

August 26th, 2004, 12:14 AM

Ubermensch

August 26th, 2004, 01:46 AM

http://www.filebox.vt.edu/users/hhoon/Pictures/mumbaimap.jpg

Legend
-----------------------------------
Violet - Completed
1) Bandra Reclamation interchange

Blue - Under construction
1) Jogeshwari - Vikhroli
2) Santacruz - Chembur
3) Bandra - Worli Sea Link

Green - Proposed
1) Andheri - Ghatkopar
2) Bandra - Sion link
3) Worli - Colaba Bridge (extension of Bandra - Worli Sea link)
4) Nhava - Sewri Bridge Link
---------------------------------

This is a work in progress so let me know of any additions or mistakes. After I get this one 100% complete I will work on a rail map.

Suncity

August 26th, 2004, 02:26 AM

Why am I getting a security alert with that pic?

:-)

Ubermensch

August 26th, 2004, 02:37 AM

Why am I getting a security alert with that pic?

:-)

Fixed :)

Suncity

August 26th, 2004, 02:58 AM

Looks good to me.

indian

August 26th, 2004, 05:07 AM

Wow, good to see Bombay developing. If the Nhava -Shevri bridge is completed, will it be among the longest in the world?

theguy

August 26th, 2004, 09:48 AM

actually there was proposal for elevated highway from madras airport to madras port ,dont know what happend to that proposal if any one gets some info on it plz post

kshatriya

August 26th, 2004, 10:06 AM

Ubermensch

August 26th, 2004, 04:18 PM

The Jogeshwari-Vikhroli link road is a little further up. It starts between those Jogeshwari and Goregaon points from the Western highway and runs through in between Mahakali Caves and Aarey colony, then through Hiranandani and IIT Powai and meets LBS Marg.

Ahh.. thant was important, now that rd make alot more sense :) I also saw it being constructed in mid-Jan while I was in bombay. Wierd :)

Hit refresh, you should be able to see the new map. Also, any information about highways like to panvel, and also in the trombay area??

Ubermensch

August 26th, 2004, 04:20 PM

Wow, good to see Bombay developing. If the Nhava -Shevri bridge is completed, will it be among the longest in the world?

No the longest I beleive is something like 38.4 kms in the US somewhere :)

Ashok

August 26th, 2004, 11:56 PM

oh wow, i never knew mumbai was an island city, i always thouse it was connected to indai's mainland on the north or something.

kronik

August 27th, 2004, 12:19 AM

Why Indian Democracy, why do you have such loopholes in you that netas can do anything they want and there is nobody to stop them!

Shinde govt bleeds state coffers dry (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu2&leftindx=2&lselect=1&chklogin=N&autono=165408)

Only days before the election code of conduct came into force in Maharashtra, the state’s cabinet of ministers continued doling out taxpayers money from the Contingent Fund (CF) exhausting nearly Rs 100 crore.

A near depleted CF, left the government with little choice but to move an ordinance to raise its limit from Rs 150 crore (that was almost over) to Rs 300 crore so that the expenditure that will have to be incurred for holding elections on October 13 may become available.

“There were many individual proposals, like Rs 3 crore that was released to Transport Minister Ashok Chavan for the setting up of a memorial (trust) in the name of former Union minister SB Chavan. The cabinet sanctioned the entire amount in one go from the CF despite opposition from the concerned department. Normally, the funds are released in installments as each phase of the construction work of the memorial is completed.”

Another proposal sought Rs 5.5 crore for a spinning mill owned by Maharashtra home minister RR Patil that the cabinet has cleared.

Yet another one cleared by the cabinet will allow tax payers money to be used to fiancee 30 per cent of the equity of three wineries being set up by RR Patil, Sanjay Patil (Congress) and Maharashtra marketing Minster Harshavardhan Patil. The three wineries would have a total equity capital close to Rs 20 crore.

Most of these cabinet decisions have permitted the disbursement of the money from the CF, which left the fund nearly empty and in no position able to meet the approximately Rs 100 crore required for holding elections in the state.

The last minute ordinance, point out officials, may not easily find favour with Maharashtra governor Mohammad Fazal who has taken issue with the state government on several past occasions.

Says a secretariat official: “We were constantly worried about being pulled up by the governor who has taken a positively proactive role in the state administrations over the last few years, having shot off more than 300 letters to different state government departments.”

:wallbash: :mad2: :bleep:

Suncity

August 27th, 2004, 12:19 AM

oh wow, i never knew mumbai was an island city, i always thouse it was connected to indai's mainland on the north or something.

It's actually several islands which have now almost joined together to form one big island.

cntower

August 27th, 2004, 12:26 AM

I'm confused; is this a rail connection or a road connection?

By the way how many airports are there in Mumbai? I see Santa Cruz and Sahar.

Ubermensch

August 27th, 2004, 12:29 AM

I'm confused; is this a rail connection or a road connection?

By the way how many airports are there in Mumbai? I see Santa Cruz and Sahar.

I was just trying to show the new developments with respect to highways. I'm also planning to show the existing highways, something to monitor progress of the beltway around bombay and how it will come to shape for anyone who has read the 'vision mumbai' plan.

The santacruz airport is domestic, and the sahar airport is international (severely needs modernization)

cntower

August 27th, 2004, 12:37 AM

I was just trying to show the new developments with respect to highways. I'm also planning to show the existing highways, something to monitor progress of the beltway around bombay and how it will come to shape for anyone who has read the 'vision mumbai' plan.

The santacruz airport is domestic, and the sahar airport is international (severely needs modernization)

They are really close that's interesting! By the way which airport has that all white terminal?

Ubermensch

August 27th, 2004, 12:39 AM

They are really close that's interesting! By the way which airport has that all white terminal?

Ahh they are close because they essentially use the same runways and stuff..

The white ugly one is Sahar.. my hope is it get a facelift sometime in the near future.

Suncity

August 28th, 2004, 08:41 PM

Found these at the site of Wadhwa Developers

Looks like the Mumbai - Navi Mumbai area is just building more and more high rises...

Shantivan (triple towers), Mumbai

http://www.wadhwadevelopers.com/images/633ShantiA.jpg

Naman Towers (Twin tower), Mumbai

http://www.wadhwadevelopers.com/images/653NamanA.jpg

Anmol, Mumbai

http://www.wadhwadevelopers.com/images/643anmol1(pv).jpg

Palm Beach Residency (seven towers), Navi Mumbai

http://www.wadhwadevelopers.com/images/703palm(pv).jpg

Hindustani

August 28th, 2004, 10:01 PM

hmmm decent stuff but still NOT a good sign for Navi Mumbai. I wonder why these highrises are not even 30 stories let alone 40 stories.

ViMo

August 28th, 2004, 10:23 PM

Suncity

August 28th, 2004, 11:15 PM

It's funny and unprofessional at the same time. Maybe the spectre of bribes has not yet left the building industry in India. :bash: I, checked the Wadhwa develpers website, and Naman Towers Mumbai is described as 21 storey and 17 storey twins. If you look at the building in the picture and count the floors, it's no less than 24 or 25 storeys high. Then, why are they wrongly described on the website, is anybody's wise guess. :)

You are right. That struck me too. But the builders will often subtract the ground floor (usually shops or garage) + the top floor which is often part of duplex penthouses. I don't know if that's the case here. I have seen renderings where the tower is 27 storey.

kshatriya

August 29th, 2004, 08:44 PM

Pretty nice!

kshatriya

August 29th, 2004, 08:58 PM

The build-up to a new Mumbai

http://ww1.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/august/90972.htm

Every month, MHADA and BMC have been approving 30 buildings in south Mumbai, which can be redeveloped by private builders. So far a whopping 19,462 low-rise buildings, mostly chawls, have been identified for the construction projects. Gigil Varghese tells the story

South Mumbai’s skyline is set for a drastic makeover. Skyscrapers of 20 floors and more will soon be replacing low-rise chawls, synonymous with the city.

The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have recently identified 19,462 buildings in the city that can be redeveloped by private builders.

According to redevelopment rules, builders can build 50 per cent more flats in the new projects and sell them at market rates. Since property rates in South Mumbai range between Rs 5,200 and Rs 10,500 per square feet, builders can make a killing on the sale of extra flats.

Builders are reportedly making a beeline for the projects. According to government sources, MHADA and BMC are reported to be issuing 30 approvals every month for such projects.

Areas that are being dotted with buildings with over 20 storeys are Girgaum, Gamdevi, Prabhadevi and Khetwadi. The old tenants are being accommodated around the property according to the area they previously lived in.

“Although there was a demand for flats in south Mumbai, supply was dead. Now, residents in suburbs who can afford to, can buy a flat in these new buildings,” said Sunil Mantri, secretary of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing and Infrastructure (MCHI).

A property developer, Harish Mehta, who is developing 11 properties in south Mumbai said that the pace at which the redevelopment is happening will stabilise the price of property in south Mumbai.

Though the redevelopment will bring in wider roads near the buildings, the redevelopment scheme has not been able to address water and other infrastructure-related problems for the residents.

The highs...

* Every flat will measure between 1,200-1,500 sq feet
* Multi-storeyed parking facility
* Wider roads near the buildings
* Health clubs
* Conference rooms
* Landscaped gardens
* High speed and more service lifts

... and the lows

* Water supply has not increased in proportion to the number of flats
* Old municipal sewage pipes have not been replaced
* The widening of roads has been uneven. While redeveloped buildings have left space for widening of roads, undeveloped properties next door mean that the roads do not have a consistent width
* Maintenance charges in the new buildings will be hefty

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

New projects

http://ww1.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images38/rushabh.jpg

Rushabh Apartments, Prarthana Samaj - Grnd+39

http://ww1.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images38/shiv278200411657.jpg

Shiv Tapi, Gamdevi - Grnd+27

http://ww1.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images38/saarthi.jpg

Saarthi, Chowpatty - Stilt+20

indian

August 29th, 2004, 09:10 PM

Thank God, Mumbai is getting somewhere.

indian

August 29th, 2004, 09:15 PM

Suncity

August 29th, 2004, 10:24 PM

This looks good!!!

ViMo

August 29th, 2004, 10:44 PM

indian

August 29th, 2004, 11:51 PM

An old article, but is quite good.

Rs20,000 crore is what separates Mumbai from being a Shanghai
Wednesday September 2003, 09:56 IST

Mumbai: It is a question that is raised often, and according to many, it is just plain unfair: Can Mumbai be Shanghai? Yes, it can, and is critical to India because Shanghai's transformation into a first world city was the dragonhead of China's rapid growth in the 90's.

That is the emphatic bottomline of a seminal report on Mumbai's future made public on Tuesday made public by consulting firm McKinsey and presented to Maharashtra CM Sushil Kumar Shinde.

The CM immediatly announced a task force headed by chief seceratary Ajit Nimabalkar. Senior IAS officerSanjay Ubale will be pointman for the report's implementation." Ibelieve this report will make us think of Mumbai as a city of future," said Shinde, adding "We need to pay attention to the finer details...we will crystallise our plan of action in the next two months".

The sobering fact is that the state government boasts a debt of Rs 83,000 crore(now 1 lac crore, as posted in another thread) and is foreever appealing for Central funding.That doesen't seem to matter. Nor does the fact that only about Rs 1000 crore comes to back to Mumbai from Rs 40,000 crore that the city contributes in revenue each year.

"The money is right here," declared Ranjit Pandit, MD Mc Kinsey. "We just need to channelize it."

But the culture of dependency sturck as he glanced at the PM's special representative Sudheendra Kulkarni."We have requested the PM to grant Mumbai Rs 18,000 crore."

The report observed that Mumbai is "more than capable" of generating the seemingly mind-boggling price tag of Rs 1,50,000 crore- Rs 2,00,000 crore over the decade ahead, much of it coming from the private sector.

It set out an eight point agenda of radical change in transportation, housing ,sanitation and environment, before the city can achieve an economic growth rate of 8-10 per cent in a decade, from the pifling 2.4 per cent now.

"To achieve this status, the government and the citizens need to undetgo a change in mindset," declared Michael Fernandes, principal, Mc Kinsey. In short, the CM must think like a proffesional CEO, departments must be corporatised and agencies must be held accountable to targets.

To be sure, there have been many reports on transforming Mumbai, but the Mc Kinsey report was commisened and supported by the State govt, the municipal corporation and the regional development authority.

McKinsey was assisted by Bomaby First that boasts patrons from Mumbai-and India's -biggest corporate names: Tatas. Hindustan Liver,Asian paints, SBI and others.

So these then are Mumbai's aspirationsby 2013:

1) Boost economic growth to 8-10 per cent. That should create half a million new jobs.
2)Improve mass and private infrastructure through new rail lines, expressways and buses. Eventually no more than 270 people on a train coach, compared to the 570 today.
3)Reduce the slum population by atleast 20 per cent from 60 per cent presently by constructing 1 million new homes.
4) Othee improvements: reduce air pollution, increase water supply, cut administrative expeses by half, and, the most important, cut red tape.

Here's how the money can be raised:
1)Rs1,00,000crore -Rs2,00,000crore through private investments in housing, power, telecom, manufacturing and services.
2)Rs50,000 crore is the total public investment needed.
3)Rs30,000 crore in loans through public-private partnership.
4)Rs 15,000 crore is the government equity needed. That is just Rs1,500 crore per year.
At crossroads:
1)Mumbai fel from 26thplace in1996 to 33rd place in 2000 in Aisaweek's ranking of top 40 Asian cities.
2)World: Mumbai ranks 163 among 218 cities on Forbes quality of life survey;124th among 130 cities in The Economist's hardship ratings.
3)The situation will worsen with an expected population increases of 2 million over the next decade.
4)It's growth rate fell from 7 percent between 1994-1998 to 2.4 % between 1998-2002.The slowdown has affected the entire region and the state.

Suncity

August 30th, 2004, 12:41 AM

Good to hear Mumbai getting a lot of scrapers. My only wish is that they develop a 75-storey S&G building, Mumbai really would be in a class of its own, unmatched by any city in the subcontinent for decades. As for the water problem, why don't the developers try to harness the rainwater. There is a law in Chennai to compulsurily harvest rain water, hope they do the same in Mumbai too. G0 MUMBAI

http://ww1.mid-day.com/hot_property/co-operatives/2004/march/79079.htm

Green bond
By: Deepali Nandwani
March 19, 2004

The number of residential and commercial projects that adhere to environment norms may be just a drop in the vast ocean, but they are definitely a step ahead in making Mumbai a more inhabitable city.

Most builders would tell you that there is increased consciousness about environment now than a decade ago. Says Jaswant Mehta, CEO of Mehta Constructions, “Since there is a lot of concentration on big complexes, builders are setting up properties that are not only self-sufficient but also environment friendly.”

While agreeing with Mehta’s point of view, Niranjan Hiranandani, MD, Hiranandani Constructions reveals that most Indian environmentalists consider development to be an antithesis to environment friendliness.

“In cities like Singapore, Hong Kong and Florida, which have grown around and on the sea, environment consciousness is very high among builders. No one considers building on the sea front or even in the sea a threat to the surrounding.”

While Mumbai’s environmentalists and builders may debate endlessly on the issues of what’s green and what’s not, they do agree on some essential features that have made the city a much cleaner and less polluted place to live in:

Rainwater harvesting

Made mandatory for complexes that sprawl over 1000 square meters or more, rainwater harvesting is here to stay. Builders like Mehta Constructions, Hiranandanis, Tata Construction, Godrej Properties, Mahindra Gesco and K Raheja have all incorporated rainwater harvesting in their residential and commercial projects.

“It makes ecological, financial and social sense to harvest rainwater as an additional supplement to the BMC’s water supply to projects,” says J S Sane, Chief Engineer (Development Planning) of the BMC, who is helping builders to set up rainwater harvesting systems.

Catchment area, in the form of a terrace, courtyard or a lawn in every new residential complex, is equipped with rain water harvesting contraption, which include conduits, like pipes that carry the water to the harvesting or storage area. “Once purified, it flows back into recharge and storage facility of the building. This could be either a bore well or an open well,” reveals Mehta.

Recycling waste water

Most big complexes come equipped with their own sewage water treatment plant, where waste water is treated, recycled and reused to water gardens or be used in the toilets. Complexes like Gokuldham in Goregaon (East), Raheja villas and Rustomjee Park in Malad, the Hiranandani buildings in Powai and Thane as well as the Runwall complexes in Mulund, have sewage treatment plants that recycle millions of litres of water every single day.

Most Tata Construction projects, too, incorporate water treatment plants and rainwater harvesting systems, with which you can collect water from terraces or landscaped areas and reuse it.

Reusing heat

While this may not be possible in residential complexes as of now, in hotels, like The Emerald Hotel, Juhu and Rodas in Powai, heat generated by air conditioners is used to heat water, which saves energy and makes effective use of waste water.

Playgrounds, Trees and More

You may not realise it, but the numbers of trees and landscaped gardens in Mumbai have gone up, thanks to the initiative taken by builders to provide their residents better quality life.

Areas like the Raheja Enclave at Borivali (East), the Hiranandani complexes or Neelkanth Woods at Powai, come equipped with Zen fountains, gardens and waterfalls.

Environment friendly materials

Several builders have switched to using eco-friendly materials, such as fly-ash brick and broken mosaic tile, to construct.

Says architect Karan Grover, the winner of the the Version 2 Platinum prize presented by the US Green Building Council, for constructing the greenest building in the world (the CII building in Hyderabad), for the year 2003, “You can use wind towers and screen walls to reduce ambient temperature and cool air.

This way, you can completely do away with air conditioners. In a lot of buildings I make, I use materials like mud, stone and brick, since complete RCC buildings are so hot.”

While each of these ideas may seem interesting, the tragedy is that the transition from environment unfriendly (check out all those eyesores that rise tall on Mumbai’s skyline and have not a speck of green to break the grayness of concrete) to eco-friendly and green is excruciatingly slow.

Suncity

August 30th, 2004, 12:48 AM

I think building skyscrapers in India is more a quality and security issue; rather than a height/storeys issue. Our cities yet don't have the infrastructure to support really tall buildings, so why push for something that will eventually look ugly due to lack of proper care and maintenance. Our infrastructure should be World class first, only then it would be appropriate to have first class gleaming skyscrapers. IMHO, that is! :)

BTW, Mumbai, because of it's partially-hilly topography, looks good and modern even with 100 meter skyscrapers.

If our government had vision they would have built proper infrastructure long ago. We are in the endless cycle of patchwork infrastructure upgrade because infrastructure was always considered "elitist" and "pro rich". Thankfully some of that attitude is changing.

aks

August 30th, 2004, 05:04 AM

If our government had vision they would have built proper infrastructure long ago. We are in the endless cycle of patchwork infrastructure upgrade because infrastructure was always considered "elitist" and "pro rich". Thankfully some of that attitude is changing.

I guess in india, especially the Delhi/NCR region has height restriction as it falls in the highly sesmic zone. Also, mainly in New Delhi area they don't want highrise buildings in Lutyens Bunglow zone where most of the senstive buildings are situated.

indian

August 30th, 2004, 05:10 AM

I guess in india, especially the Delhi/NCR region has height restriction as it falls in the highly sesmic zone. Also, mainly in New Delhi area they don't want highrise buildings in Lutyens Bunglow zone where most of the senstive buildings are situated.

Well, Tokyo is in a high sesmic zone, they have tons of scrapers. Actually the govt should force the builders to strictly adhere with the norms. And Delhi deserves a decent skyline, after all, it is our capital.

indian

August 30th, 2004, 05:41 PM

According to Emporis website, there are 159 scrapers u/c in Bombay with 13 proposed. They updated it from 154 u/c. Any data on those buildings?

indian

August 30th, 2004, 06:00 PM

Here's another newsbit from March this year

Foreign experts to design Mumbai locals
By:Binoo Nair
March 16, 2004.

The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation(MRVC) is seeking international expertise to upgrade Mumbai's obselete train system.

Foreign consultants will conduct quality control checks at Chennai's Integral Coach Factory(India's premier train builder) where this train of the future will be assembled.

A team led by MRVC MD Anil Varma and technical director AK Malhotrareturned unstatisfied after an inspection of the prototype, citing burn marks on the welded steel.

The MRVC is looking for companies with expertise in stainless steel welding.

Firms have been shortlisted for the electric system and signal equipment, while other contracts are still being disbursed.

It is the most prestigious assignment in the railways and we want nothing but the best . After all the locals are the lifeline of the city," a senior MVRC official said.

SEVEN SEA EFFORT

1) Electric motors: Alston, Siemens and Bombardier, and others from Switzerland and UK being considered.
2)Welding firms: Westrn Europe, Korea, Japan, BEML
3)Power supply:German consultantFrischman- Prabhu-D'Consult
4) Signalling system: Hong Kong basedMTR Inc
5) Quality control:Foreign consultant to oversee qualtiy control at ICF Chennai.
6) Stainless steel:Jindal or Salem Steel will make special steel in India.

kshatriya

August 30th, 2004, 06:10 PM

indian

September 2nd, 2004, 11:43 PM

Something good.
Mumbai
Completed:494
Under construction:159
Proposed:13
On hold:1
Total:667

Shangahi
Completed:535
U/C:52
Approved:18
proposed:11
on hold:4
total:620

AAAAH, Not bad. we are kinda ahead. but Mumbai really needs a supertall.

kronik

September 3rd, 2004, 02:26 AM

M'rashtra okays Rs 6553 cr city project (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/835906.cms)

Around 64 lakh commuters traveling daily by the suburban trains in the economic capital of the country are likely to get relief in their travel problems with the Maharashtra government okaying Rs 6553 crore second phase of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP).

With the ever increasing population, the railways suburban network is found to be insufficient for bringing the commuters to the metropolis. About 4,700 passengers travel by a nine-car rake during peak hours, against its rated capacity of only 1,700.

Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, announcing the cabinet decision of okaying the Rs 6553 crore for the second phase of the Mumbai Urban Trasport Project (MUTP) said," The project, especially dealing with suburban railway section, to be completed by 2011-12 will enhance the passenger transport facilities 30 per cent."

The total estimated cost of the MUTP is Rs 45260 million. State government would share 50 per cent cost of the Rail component or Rs 17550 million. The World Bank too has sanctioned a loan of Rs 26020 millions for the project.

indian

September 4th, 2004, 05:47 PM

kshatriya

September 6th, 2004, 10:19 AM

MSRDC recently updated their website. Text from the tender page -

MSRDC - Press Release

Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is entrusted with the project of development of passenger water transport system along the West Coast of Mumbai.

The project envisages construction of terminal and operation facilities at five locations namely Borivali, Versova, Juhu, Bandra and Nariman Point, and operation of vessels (catamaran / hovercraft) on Built, Own, Operate and Transfer Basis (BOOT) for a concession period of thirty years.

In response to this, out of five Bidders two bids were received by MSRDC which were opened today (19/12/2003). Those are of M/s. Satyagiri Shipping Co. Ltd. and M/s. Four Seasons Marine & Air Services Ltd.

The offer M/s. Satyagiri Shipping Co. Ltd. is found to be the highest.

The construction period for Terminal and Operational facilities is two years.

It is expected to ferry about one lakh passengers per day when this project is fully developed.

State of Art Catamaran and Hovercrafts will be pressed into service.

The facilities will be developed in two phases. The first phase will cover 50% of development.

Project Info -

Page 1 (http://www.msrdc.org/projects/pwt2.html)

Page 2 (http://www.msrdc.org/projects/IPWT.html)

kshatriya

September 6th, 2004, 10:21 AM

MMRDA has updated their site too!! :runaway: Finally the details of the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure project - Here (http://www.mmrdamumbai.org/projects_muip.htm).

kshatriya

September 6th, 2004, 07:15 PM

http://ww1.mid-day.com/metro/vashi/2004/september/91531.htm

Thane-Vashi line to start in 3 months

http://ww1.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images39/thane-turbhe-rail.jpg

The Thane-Vashi line was supposed to have been inaugurated on Aug 25
Though UPS Madan, the state chief electoral officer, has said that flagging off the Thane-Vashi service will not violate the election code of conduct, railway sources say that all is not yet clear and there are as many as 19 technical glitches listed by the commissioner of railway safety to be cleared before this line opens (metro Aug 27-Sept 2).

On Aug 31, Sanjeev Naik, mayor of Navi Mumbai, met the Central Railway general manager SB Ghosh-Dastidar and chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to discuss details. Says Naik, “It will take a minimum of three months for the service to open.”

Railway authorities say the Thane-Turbhe-Vashi line is being used as a political plank by local politicians. “Sudhir Kumar, who inspected the line, gave clearance to just a single track along the Vashi-Thane route. The line is already being used by goods trains that come from Thane to the APMC market in Turbhe.

The line had been upgraded and extended to Vashi for passenger traffic as the inauguration was scheduled to happen on Aug 25. However, this has been postponed till after the elections,” says a senior official from Central Railway.

Another problem is that the eight stations along the line do not have the requisite staff. “It is mandatory for every station to have an in-charge, booking clerks and other personnel,” he says.

“Once the route is inaugurated, the line will have a single-operation track with a single train which will run up and down. There will be no reserve trains in case of a breakdown,” adds the official.

kshatriya

September 6th, 2004, 07:21 PM

Forests Ministry probes hacking of trees

Despite the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s (MMRDA) denial that it has cut down trees along the Eastern Express highway for road-widening, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has begun an inquiry into the large-scale cutting of trees along the highway.

The incident was first reported in Mid Day on August 9.

Nearly 12,000 trees were hacked from June to mid-July for building the eight-lane highway from Kurla to Mulund. Yuvak Pratisthan, an NGO run by former BJP MP from Mumbai North-East Kirit Somaiya, looked after most of these trees.

Somaiya has been pursuing the matter with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the MMRDA, which is developing the road.

Somaiya said, ‘‘In the first meeting with the BMC, the MMRDA officials admitted the trees had been cut, but later they denied it.’’

On Tuesday and Wednesday, a team headed by Deputy Inspector-General of Forests, Rekha Pai, visited the place.

Her team has discovered that many trees have been cut and the stumps were covered with mud to hide evidence. She is expected to submit the report in a week to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

kshatriya

September 6th, 2004, 07:26 PM

Where is WR's air-conditioned coach?

After a grand trial more than two years ago, the air-conditioned coach, which was to run on the suburban railway from Churchgate to Virar, lies deteriorating in the Mahalakshmi scrap yard.

The reason? Railway authorities are still undecided about the amount to be charged as fare.

The railways had decided to price the monthly passes at Rs 4,000 and were aimed at those who travel between the city and suburbs in cars.

Western Railway PRO Shailendra Kumar said, “The railway authorities could not decide on the fares. Also, the railway board did not approve of the plan, which is why the coach is lying unused.”

Each AC coach costs between Rs 7 lakh and Rs 12 lakh. The coach has a passenger capacity of 35, which means while 17 commuters can sit. The rest would be standees.

The Western Railway had promised to introduce one such coach every month but seems to have reneged on its word.

The coach has two automatic sliding doors and blue cushioned seats, similar to the first class seats currently in use.

The compartment is also equipped with steel racks for luggage and has a white panelled decor. The railway board had planned to convert the existing luggage compartments into AC coaches.

On April 8, 2002, Western Railway had introduced the air-conditioned compartment in the 12 car rakes from Virar to Churchgate, which was supposed to be a railway week gift to commuters.

The annual railway week is celebrated from April 9 to 16.

indian

September 7th, 2004, 02:44 AM

Suncity

September 7th, 2004, 07:36 AM

Suncity

September 7th, 2004, 07:38 AM

In local trains, why don't they use double deckerd trains. There is a train called Flying Ranee or Flying Queen or something like that between Surat and Mumbai. If they could use those coaches in locals, the overstuffing problem could be solved at one go. A double deckered 12 car rake could carry soooooo many more people. Hope they could do that.

Double decker trains are not a solution for local rail traffic. Local trains stop for a few seconds. Boarding and de boarding will not be possible in a few seconds in case of double decker trains.

Suncity

September 7th, 2004, 07:42 AM

Suncity

September 7th, 2004, 07:47 AM

MMRDA has updated their site too!! :runaway: Finally the details of the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure project - Here (http://www.mmrdamumbai.org/projects_muip.htm).

yeah! I noticed that too.

But the text has not changed for the most part. Old stuff, new packaging. The officer in charge of providing information is probably lazing around. The web designer finally did some work. Good for him.

kshatriya

September 8th, 2004, 09:12 AM

And here's how the public has to suffer due to the lack of co-ordination between key govt. agencies -

Now, BMC blames MMRDA for potholes
By: Krishnakumar
September 8, 2004

Under fire from all quarters because of the pothole menace, the BMC is now cracking the whip on anyone found digging the roads.

The ‘S’ ward office on Monday filed a case against a private contractor for digging up a newly ‘patchworked’ road at the Gandhinagar junction on LBS Marg.

Ashoka Contractors has been ordered to stop work by the local ward office after it was found that the contractor had dug up more than half a kilometre of the road. The ward office has also lodged an FIR against the contractor.

Interestingly, the contractor was engaged by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) as part of its road-widening project.

But MMRDA officials did not seek permission from the BMC before asking the contractor to do the work.

Chief Engineer (road) of the BMC, J T Bharbhaya has written a letter to MMRDA Joint Commissioner T Chandrashekar asking him not to initiate work on roads without the BMC’s permission.

Bharbhaya said, “We have written to MMRDA because we had just worked on the potholes and our permission was not sought. Our work on LBS Marg has gone waste as the contractor has dug it up.”

Bharbaya added that it would take a few days to work out the losses.

“We had focussed on this particular stretch of LBS Marg as it sees a lot of traffic during the Ganesh festival. Now we will have to work on this stretch again,” said a road department official from the ward.

Meanwhile according to sources, MMRDA has sought a meeting with the BMC on this issue today.

kshatriya

September 8th, 2004, 09:13 AM

Indian Railways hardly at work again!

The most hilarious part is that they do not have requisite staff!

Give us a break Indian Railways.
True.

kshatriya

September 8th, 2004, 09:14 AM

yeah! I noticed that too.

But the text has not changed for the most part. Old stuff, new packaging. The officer in charge of providing information is probably lazing around. The web designer finally did some work. Good for him.
Yeah the text is the same, but I had to post it anyway. The website is still really drab though.

kshatriya

September 8th, 2004, 10:01 AM

Elevated rail system gathers steam
CLARA LEWIS

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 08, 2004 01:12:45 AM ]

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Metropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority (MMRDA) has invited bids for phase I of the Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS) or elevated rail for the Ghatkopar -Versova section.

The cost of the project has been revised from Rs 950 crore to Rs 1,100 crore. The elevated railway will run through the centre of the existing roads. MMRDA joint commissioner T Chandrasekhar said tenders for the global bids were floated just before the election code of conduct came into force on August 24.

He said negotiations were already under way with Godrej to acquire 55 acres of its land on the Eastern Express highway towards the Ghatkopar bus depot to construct a depot for MRTS, which would also include a workshop for maintenance and overhauling of the trains.

Similarly, 40 acres of private land is to be acquired at D N Nagar, Versova, for another depot.

Suncity

September 9th, 2004, 05:51 AM

New malls delayed

A STAFF REPORTER | Monday, August 30, 2004 12:21:30 IST

With the festive season approaching, shopaholics eagerly wait for the opening of the new malls. But for now it seems the wait will be a little longer
Shopaholics were expecting the city's new malls to open by now for welcoming the forthcoming festive season. But it seems the wait will be a little longer. While High Street Phoenix is rapidly developing and the new 'designer mall' Quorum is ready for the season of celebrations, Cr2 (Crossroads 2) at Nariman Point and Atria at Worli show no signs of opening soon.

The big, shiny metallic grey building of Cr2 looks like a shopper's haven from the outside. "The building is ready, it is just the interiors that are undergoing work right now," says Rajiv Piramal, the CEO of the Piramal Group. The new shopping mall is also going to have a multiplex, "Cr2 is going to be more into food and entertainment as compared to Crossroads at Tardeo. Along with the usual shopping outlets, there will be many food outlets and a multiplex at Cr2," added Piramal. Though he was unable to give a specific date of the opening of the mall, Piramal said that it should open before Diwali this year.

There is another shopping arcade coming up opposite the Tardeo Crossroads. Several retail shops will be in this building. The work on this seems to be going on since a year and the place is still not ready. With Heera Panna shopping arcade, Crossroads and now the new building, Tardeo is reviving its popularity to give a competition to the High Street Phoenix shopping plazas.

Atria, the shopping mall at Worli was due to open by now will also take a while before shoppers can step in. The mall that boasts of an ample parking space and a very unique international style of elevation, is yet to start business. Though it was scheduled to start operating by December, the work was put to a halt due to the heavy rains and the transport strike. Alif Enterprises plans to have a grand opening in January next year and will make up for the loads of business during this festive season by hosting several promotional schemes to attract customers.

kshatriya

September 9th, 2004, 06:02 AM

Is the CM fooling Mumbai? (http://ww1.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/september/91928.htm)

kshatriya

September 9th, 2004, 06:07 AM

Half-finished Pira-mall all set to open
By: Marisha P Thakur
August 18, 2004

The Piramals’ second mall in the city, cr2 at Nariman Point, is likely to open at the end of this month with a half-finished look.

The Piramals’ joint venture partners in the project, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), has been laggardly in completing the five floors that it manages.

According to the agreement between MMRDA and Piramal, the management responsibility of alternate levels of the 10-storeyed structure has been split between the two, say Piramal Holdings officials.

So, while the marketing and management of the ground, second, fourth, sixth, eight and tenth level is with Piramal Holdings, the floors in between are to be managed by MMRDA.

Thus, while Piramal has worked hard to make all floors over which it has jurisdiction work well, the structure may still wear a ghost-like look as MMRDA is yet to swing into action.

For instance, while the ground and second floors will soon open for retail shopping and a multiplex respectively, the first floor, earmarked for a food court (under MMRDA’s responsibility) lies completely vacant.

Piramal is therefore trying to make up for it by getting three restaurants on the ground floor itself.

“The retail area at cr2 is just 1/5th of Crossroads at Haji Ali,” says Jaydev Mody, managing director, Piramal Holdings. “The stores at cr2 are of a mixed variety: Mahindra Holidays, Swarovski, Liberty shoes, Zodiac, a computer store, leather boutique, etc,” says Mody.

“The Pyramid megastore will not be operating here but there will be the anchor activity in the form of a multiplex. There will also be a small area dedicated to ‘jammin’ (a gaming zone where you can play different kinds of video and other games) for entertainment,” says Mody.

MMRDA’s responsibilities

Floor 1: Food court
Floors 3, 5, 7, 9: Pay and park

Parking problems

For harried commuters hoping cr2 will be their answer to parking problems, deliverance may yet be some way off.

Not only have parking charges yet to be decided, but there seems to be confusion over who manages what part of the parking lot as well.
“We have received area for the parking of 250 cars across the third, fourth and fifth floor,” says Dr Suresh Joshi, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA.

However, Piramal Holdings’ officials state that MMRDA has got alternate levels (3,5,7 and 9) for parking facilities.

Considering that MMRDA has been rather passive in its attitude towards space marketing, it is likely that MMRDA will outsource this function to a third party — in all likelihood to Piramal itself. “MMRDA may ask us to manage their parking facilities,” says Mody.

“They (Piramal) made a presentation regarding the parking facilities. But we haven’t decided on the issue yet and will work out the arrangement for the same in the next 10 days,” says Joshi.

Thankfully there seems to be some agreement over the as yet undecided parking charges. “Our rates and MMRDA’s rates for parking facilities will be the same,” says Mody.

kshatriya

September 9th, 2004, 07:42 AM

MMRDA open to new technology for Andheri-Ghatkopar MRTS

Konkan Railway's dream Sky Bus project is finally off the ground. The Sky Bus made its maiden test run in Madgaon, Goa, on August 25, when it traversed 30 metres to and fro with its own power using sophisticated 3-phase AC motor technology supplied by Elin EBG, Austria.
The man who dared to dream of the project, B. Rajaram, Managing Director, Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd, is proud to pioneer the project but knows he has a long way to go. "It is a small step towards a big journey. With this, I want to redefine the transportation system. This small step will radically change the metro transportation scene. This is India's contribution to the world," Rajaram told Project Monitor.
With this, all eyes are now on Mumbai where the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority has invited global tenders for development and operation of the proposed Rs 970.30-crore Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar mass rapid transit system on BOOT basis through public-private partnership. The total length of this project would be 12.70 km, which includes 3.360 km from Versova to Andheri, 8.083 km from Andheri to Ghatkopar and 1.265 km from the domestic airport to Sahar Airport.
It may be recalled that, two years ago, KRC had proposed the sky bus system for the 11-km long Andheri-Ghatkopar stretch, but MMRDA was not very keen as the sky bus system was challenged on technological grounds. With the golden run of the sky bus in Goa, KRC is now upbeat, as MMRDA has said that it is open to new technologies if certified by an Indian agency.
The full-scale pre-commissioning trials of the test tracks will be conducted from the first week of September.

Ubermensch

September 9th, 2004, 09:12 AM

Is the CM fooling Mumbai? (http://ww1.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/september/91928.htm)

Considering the earnings potential in this city, the CM needs to get of his ass and give the city what it needs to realise its full potential

Why can't Chandrababu Naidu run in Maharastra, we would elect him!!

kshatriya

September 12th, 2004, 06:52 AM

Lazy babus at it again..... :sleepy:

http://ww1.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/september/92018.htm

http://ww1.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images39/train109200410109.jpg

Thane-Vashi rail link awaits a minister
By: Binoo Nair
September 10, 2004

For want of a minister, the Thane-Vashi railway link cannot be flagged off. Central railway officials say they had been rushed into inaugurating the Thane-Vashi railway line by the state government on August 25.

They say that it is only now that the line can be operational, provided they are given a week’s notice. They added that only the last rounds of technical inspections remain.

However, with the election Code of Conduct in place on August 25, commuters will still have to wait it out.

Earlier, the state government had tried to go ahead with the August 25 inauguration of the Thane-Vashi rail link by asking railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to inaugurate the line. In the week before this, chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde had even spoken to Yadav about the inauguration.

But till late afternoon on August 25, Yadav did not respond to the state government’s request to be the chief guest at the inauguration function.

By the evening of August 25, the Election Code of Conduct had been announced and it put paid to the Maharashtra government’s decision to get the line up and running.

Now, commuters from Navi Mumbai will have to wait at least till the next government is in place, as both the government and the railway ministry will want to earn brownie points from the commissioning. Railway officials point out that it would be the first major railway commissioning since Lalu Prasad Yadav took charge.

“There have been cases where railway lines have been inaugurated by the railway ministry itself, but in this case the state government has to be invited because two-thirds of the cost has been paid by them through CIDCO,” said a senior CR official.

The train that will ferry commuters, four times a day initially, on the Thane-Vashi line is ready after modifications were made to it once it was procured from Western Railway last October.

The 200-odd people who will man the network, including a station master at Kopar Khairane station, a couple of booking clerks at other stations like Airoli and teams of pointsmen and gangmen through the network, have all taken their positions.

The major safety supervisions by the commissioner of railway safety are also complete with just another minor round left.

One line of the Thane-Vashi network is already functional with freight trains running on it but it would have to be upgraded for speed for passenger trains, CR officials say.

kshatriya

September 12th, 2004, 06:56 AM

Revival of Panvel-Karjat project

By: Rajendra Aklekar
September 10, 2004

Ashok Nivrutti Aher is a harassed man. This resident of Line Ali in Panvel has to travel for 45 minutes to reach his office at Karjat. Ashok travels by the state transport bus, which is always crowded and seldom does he get a seat.

However, he hopes that the Panvel-Karjat railway project, which has been shelved for the last two years, will be revived in the future, even as the Thane-Vashi link is set to open.

Neha Sardesai. a resident of New Panvel, who visits her mother in Karjat once a week describes a similar experience. “The only option I have is the bus. Not only the service but also the roads to Karjat are bad,” she says.
“A single trip to Karjat costs Rs 15. This is very expensive if you travel by bus every day,” says Kanti Hudar, a resident of Ameya CHS in New Panvel.

The bus at present takes 45 minutes to one hour to reach Karjat from Panvel. Once the train service starts, the journey time between Panvel and Karjat would just be 30 minutes. The train ticket will cost around Rs 9.

Says Ismail Rashid, a businessman and resident of Sector 11, New Panvel, “This link will not only benefit residents of Panvel, but also cut down the distance between Mumbai and Pune by 31 km.”

About the project

Say Railway officials the Karjat-Panvel railway line extends for 28.8 km. The proposal was approved by the Union Railway Ministry in 1993.

However work on this link began in 1998. This rail route will connect nearly 20 villages between Panvel and Karjat. There are three stations — Chikhale, Mahape and Chowk — along the new rail route.

The link was to be launched on Mar 31, 2002, but was deferred for technical reasons to May 2002. However, later it was postponed and is now expected to open by Dec 2004.

The ticket from Panvel to Karjat will cost around Rs 9 per trip.

The railway line will be completed soon: officials

Says SPS Jain, member Railway Board (engineering), in a reply to a railway passenger forum, “The work on this section is in full swing. The construction of a 2.7 km stretch is still on. We are trying to complete it at the earliest.”

Officials at the site fear landslides similar to that on the Konkan Railway along this line too. “We are working on that problem too as it would be a major fear,” says an engineer at the site.

28.8
The length of the Karjat-Panvel railway line

15
The cost of a state bus ticket from Panvel to Karjat

9
The approximate fare to Karjat by the railway line

Suncity

September 12th, 2004, 07:06 AM

The railway line will be completed soon: officials

Says SPS Jain, member Railway Board (engineering), in a reply to a railway passenger forum, “The work on this section is in full swing. The construction of a 2.7 km stretch is still on. We are trying to complete it at the earliest.”

Officials at the site fear landslides similar to that on the Konkan Railway along this line too. “We are working on that problem too as it would be a major fear,” says an engineer at the site.

Hmm..that doesn't give me much hope. Maybe "soon" means 5 more years? Don't trust the lazy babus of Indian railways.

Let's see if they can manage to complete the Thane - Vashi section which has been under planning and construction for years now. Did they finally manage to inaugurate it? First they were short on staff and now they are short on ministers??? Excuses are getting riduculous by the day.

kshatriya

September 12th, 2004, 07:15 AM

Suncity

September 12th, 2004, 07:19 AM

Yeah just like the Mahatma Gandhi expressway was lying unused for a month.....can't they inaugurate it by remote or sumthin?

That's a good idea. They can get a remote control and do the inauguration from the a/c offices. Or they can ask Amar Akbar Anthony to do the honours.

kronik

September 12th, 2004, 09:29 AM

Why the heck is India still stuck on this bad bad tradition of netas inaugrating our infrastructure projects is something which i cant comprehend, but pi$$es the hell out of me.

Our projects need to be inaugrated by our soldiers, by the poorest amongst us, by our senior citizens, and by the engineers and workers who worked on them day and night and built them, and not by these immoral jackals who i have seen hold this country's progress to ransom since i started to make sense of things in life.

Ubermensch

September 12th, 2004, 09:23 PM

Suncity

September 12th, 2004, 11:46 PM

Tardeo towers verdict hit by environment study cost

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/847040.cms

GURBIR SINGH

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2004 02:57:03 AM ]
MUMBAI: Legal challenges on environmental issues are beginning to learn that it can be an expensive business. Courts insist on environmental impact studies, which are invariably complex, detailed and cost a bomb. PILs on such issues therefore, sometimes boomerang, delaying projects and defeating the very purpose environmental activists set out to achieve.

Such has been the history of the well-publicised case in central Mumbai, where Usha Kiran Housing Society and the Cumbala Hill Residents Committee challenged the Shapoorji Palonji-promoted SD Corporation.

The developers are currently constructing two, 60-story towers at the bottom of the Tardeo Hill, but the Bombay High Court has not been able to take a final view in the matter as it is still awaiting an environmental impact report from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). The reason for the delay: the petitioner groups have not able to pay for the environmental study.

After prolonged litigation in the Bombay High Court, the Supreme Court settled the matter recently when the petitioner groups agreed to pay Rs 7 lakh towards the completion of the IIT study.

The final report on the environmental issues related to the construction of the twin towers at the bottom of the hill is to be filed by the first week of October, the apex court directed.

Meanwhile, SD Corporation has gone ahead with the construction of the twin towers, subject to certain restrictions. The Bombay High Court has not stayed the development work while the environment study was being carried out.

The petition by Usha Kiran Society and other flat-owners in the area was filed in October ‘02 alleging that the permission to construct the multi-story towers in the MP Mill Compound was hazardous to the geo-stability of Cumballa Hill and therefore posed a risk to life and property.

The Rs 400-crore project covering 16.2 acres has been undertaken under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority and, besides the two towers, also includes rehabilitation of 2,500 slum families in self-contained, 300 square feet flats. To delve into the issue, the Bombay High Court appointed an expert committee consisting of representatives of IIT Powai, Kanpur and Delhi.

The expert committee was required to give its findings by January ‘03, and both the petitioner societies as well as the developer initially agreed to share the expenses and contributed Rs 50,000 each for the investigation.

The expert committee finally filed an interim report on July 31, ‘03 pleading that further geological data from the hill slopes and the surrounding areas was required before a report could be filed. The interim report also said that the current stabilisation measures were ‘short-term’.

The committee was given time till November 30, ‘03 to file its final report but meanwhile the IIT committee demanded that the parties to the dispute deposit an additional Rs 9 lakh toward the second instalment for the study.

While the petitioner activists and societies and builders paid another Rs 4.5 lakh each for the IIT study, the former filed an appeal that it be freed from its undertaking to bear 50% of the cost of the environmental impact study.

In the meanwhile, the expert committee indicated that the total cost of the study would touch Rs 24 lakh, and therefore the two disputants were required to pay another Rs 7 lakh each.

The High Court bench of Justice S Radhakrishnan & Justice VM Kanade examining the issue held that the Expert Committee report was essential for a decision on the twin-tower controversy. In that light both the petitioners and the defendant S D Corporation were asked to deposit an additional Rs 7 lakh each.

The housing societies challenging the project appealed to the Supreme Court, and though the matter was disposed off that end, the final expert report is yet to see the light of day.

kshatriya

September 13th, 2004, 08:14 AM

kshatriya

September 13th, 2004, 01:47 PM

These projects will change the face of Thane

By: Renu Ojha
August 26, 2004

Lake City Mall at Kapurwadi

The project, which started five months ago, is being developed by High Land Builders and Developers.

The mall will be spread over an area of five lakh sq ft. It will have a Food Bazaar, Big Bazaar, a Pantaloons showroom and other shops. It is expected to be completed by June 2005.

The mall will also house a three-screen multiplex, food courts and free car parking for over 1,000 cars. It will also have glass elevators, central escalators, central air-conditioning and an entertainment zone.

Art Convention Centre

This Rs 300 crore project will be built in front of Upvan lake and at the foot of Yeoor hills. The Centre will have a 300-seat amphitheatre for dance, drama, one-act plays and other cultural activities.

The Centre will have a museum and a garden spread over 3.7 acres of land, food court for 100 people, ample parking space for employees as well as visitors, a library and fountain.

The project awaits government sanction, which is expected in the next four to five months.

Local trains within the city

The aim of this project is to decongest and divert traffic going towards the station. According to TMC, they will introduce a local train, which will take some load off the TMT buses and other local transport.

This train will be mounted on an elevated track at the height of nine metres. Phase I will involve laying down of a 16 km track connecting Teen Haath Naka via Naupada and across two flyovers up till the Cadbury Junction. The track will then return to the base station via Balkumbh along the creek behind Saket and Thane College.

Phase II will add another eight km to the train service (route has not been finalised yet).

Approximately over 4.5 lakh people are expected to use this facility.

This local service will have an access way to Thane station, as well as an exit for those who need to catch buses, autos, taxis and private vehicles.

This Rs 1,000 crore project is awaiting government clearance.

Remodelling of Thane station area

This Rs 10 crore project should be cleared by the government in the next three to four months. As per the plan, all buses plying towards the station will use a flyover and directly reach the planned local train service.

The bus stops will be on the deck area hence residents getting off trains from Thane station need not step out of the building to switch to other modes of transport. The buses will be diverted to Masunda Lake via a flyover to decongest the station road.

The project should be completed within 18 months from the day it is cleared by the government.

Hindustani

September 13th, 2004, 02:24 PM

Suncity....

"The developers are currently constructing two, 60-story towers at the bottom of the Tardeo Hill"

Is it safe to assume that the Work on two 60 stories hasn't been interrepted & they are still going to be completed in time despite Legal hassles. There seems to be no Stay order.

ViMo

September 13th, 2004, 02:47 PM

I can bet my coins that the IIT report won't be forthcoming. To begin with this was a narrow minded petition in first place. The SD corp had done it's homework in first place, after all they come with a solid reputation of doing some real massive projects in the country, for both the government and the private sector. You don't want to loose your future for the gains in your present! :)

Suncity

September 13th, 2004, 03:12 PM

Hindustani

September 14th, 2004, 12:08 AM

JRD Tata Bridge
http://www.mahapwd.com/Graphics/privatisation/Harbour_Links_plan.jpg

Mumbai Trans Harbour Sea link project:
(JRD Tata Bridge)
The island city of Mumbai is surrounded by sea from 3 sides. The port, majority of warehouses, godowns, business and commercial areas are located in southern end of the city. The growth over the years has been on the northern end.
Hence, road corridors in northern suburban areas are facing the brunt of heavy traffic trying to gain access to the business areasin south Mumbai leading to congestion of these corridors. In order to reduce the load of incoming traffic in city corridors, the State govt. has envisagated a 25 km. Trans Harbour road cum rail project across the harbour linking the main land and the Mumbai city.

Does anyone has more info on it. I believe this is different from Bandra Worli Sealink. I like to know more & how far this project has gone.

Hindustani

September 14th, 2004, 12:11 AM

Here's some more news & whats new. a set back.

Nhava-Sewri link will not have railway line

Study indicates poor passenger numbers

Rajshri Mehta

Mumbai, August 25: The first phase of the Mumbai Trans-Harbour link will not have a railway line. A feasibility study has thrown up poor rail traffic projections.

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) will instead construct a 22.5-km six-lane sea link connecting Nhava in Navi Mumbai with Sewri in South Mumbai.

Global pre-qualification bids were issued on Tuesday inviting companies to participate in this Build-Operate-Transfer expressway venture.

The project, touted as the country’s longest sea link, has been on the drawing board for the past 20 years.

However, urban planners are unhappy with the current plan. They point out that rail travel is a preferred mode of transport for the common man.

‘‘Not only are the fares reasonable, railways are environment-friendly too,’’ a senior transport consultant told Newsline.

MSRDC’s Managing Director Anil Lakhina does not agree. ‘‘The present rail network can comfortably cater to the traffic between Navi Mumbai and CST. Jawaharlal Nehru and Mumbai Port Trust (also) have a rail connection,’’ says Lakhina.

MSRDC has gone ahead with the invitation for bids, but the project has been awaiting clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

An internal MSRDC report has also said that the Rs 2,600-crore project will be unviable if it depends only on toll revenues.

‘‘We are not going to invest a (single) penny,’’ Lakhina told Newsline. ‘‘We may increase the concessional period (of toll collection) from 30 to 40 years. Funds can also be raised through bonds.’’

Hindustani

September 14th, 2004, 12:23 AM

Here is some more Old news

22.5km-long bridge planned
Mumbai |By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent | 28-02-2004
Print friendly format | Email to Friend

In a city where road and rail expansion is reaching a saturation point, the proposed 22.5 km bridge over the sea between Sewree and Navi Mumbai will ease both traffic congestion and air pollution.

The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link Bridge, which will be called the JRD Tata bridge, will provide a eight-lane road and rail link from Sewree in Mumbai to Nhava in Navi Mumbai on the northern end of navigational channel of the Mumbai harbour.

"The first phase will involve the construction of a two-way, four-lane highway with the bridge being connected at many points," Anil Kumar Lakh-ina, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), told Gulf News.

"The Coastal Zone Management of Maharasthra state has already given an environmental clearance and has recommended a clearance of environmental permission from the Government of India. It is only a formality," he said.

The MSRDC has already invited bids for the project that is estimated to cost Rs18 billion and to be constructed in two years. Once constructed, it will be a boon for residents in both ends of the city-in South Mumbai and Navi Mumbai – who will be able to avoid traffic snarls in central and north-east Mumbai.

It would take less than 30 minutes to reach Navi Mumbai from Colaba whilst a commuter now spends one and a half hours by road.

When the lanes are extended and a rail link comes in place, the entire project is expected to bring substantial benefits to Mumbai in terms of economic development as well as reducing traffic congestion. The traffic dispersal system will be in the form of elevated roads and interchanges which will connect the important arteries from the southern, central and western parts of the city.

The provision of multistoried car parks in Sewree and shuttle bus services to South Mumbai will lessen the number of vehicles on the road.

The connection between the Mumbai port and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust will also be made easier.

There will also be a faster access to the proposed domestic airport at Kopar in Navi Mumbai and proposed international airport at Mandwa.

India's longest sea link

• 22.5km bridge between Sewree and Navi Mumbai

• Four-lane dual carriage-way

• Total cost of project Rs18 billion

• What an environmentalist says: Even as an MSRDC advertisement on the proposed project surprised and pleased many, the environmentalists have a different take : "This is just a pre-election ploy by the state government, before the Election Commission's model code of conduct comes into place," says Debi Goenka of the Bombay Environmental Action Group.

• Those who are bidding for the project will also have to understand the risks as in the case of the much touted Bandra-Worli sea link project which has been mired in controversies.

• A payment dispute between the contractor and MSRDC brought construction to a halt.

Ubermensch

September 14th, 2004, 01:13 AM

Yes, this has been on the cards for awhile now. Check this link: http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=128980

will give you an idea of where exactly this bridge will be.

Hindustani

September 14th, 2004, 02:22 PM

Ubermensch

September 14th, 2004, 08:09 PM

Ubermensch.....Thanks. Link has been of little help. The latest from some indian construction website claims that Trans harbor will be completed by 2008. I dont know how its going to be when its not even started & is still in "planning" stage. If this happens it will really be great along with Bandra Worli Sealink which will be completed by 2007. But I doubt it.

My best guestimate (guess estimate) is that we will have the bandra-worli link, the worli colaba link and the JRD tata bridge done by 2010. Bandra-Worli should be done around 2007 actually, i beleive progress is slow but the bridge is only 3.5kms long for god sake :)

Lets see..

kshatriya

September 15th, 2004, 07:48 AM

My best guestimate (guess estimate) is that we will have the bandra-worli link, the worli colaba link and the JRD tata bridge done by 2010. Bandra-Worli should be done around 2007 actually, i beleive progress is slow but the bridge is only 3.5kms long for god sake :)

Lets see..
We should have the Eastern and Western freeways (including all these bridges) by 2010, but by then we may need a lot more....

kshatriya

September 15th, 2004, 08:07 AM

Here's the sad story of Mumbai's infrastructure - Though I doubt any other govt. could do much better.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/840230.cms

End of the road: Infrastructure projects did not take off
GIRISH KUBER

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 06, 2004 12:37:25 AM ]

MUMBAI: As the term of the Democratic Front government in the state comes to an end, many Mumbaikars may be singing this song as the fate of various road projects in the city hangs fire.

In fact, it’s not just roads, infrastructure in general has failed to take off during the Congress-NCP government’s five-year tenure. The combine began its reign amid the controversy over the proposed Pedder Road flyover.

As part of its mega transport management plan for Mumbai, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) had mooted a proposal to build a road-over bridge from Haji Ali to Wilson College via Pedder Road.

However, the project was grounded even before it could take off as Pedder Road residents opposed the flyover, fearing congestion. The agitation gaind momentum and when the activists were joined by famous singers, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle, the then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was left with alternative but to shelve the project.

Another promising project, the Worli-Bandra Sea Link, has also been on the slow track. Following objections by environmentalists and wrangling over costs between the government and the main contractor, Hindustan Construction (HCC), work on the project came to a virtual standstill. The project was only revived recently.

Yet another sea link — 22.5 km link connecting Sewree in South Mumbai to Nhava Shiva in New Mumbai — also seems to be at sea. Probably with an eye on the impending assembly elections, the Shinde government recently invited bids for this project.

The Congress-NCP government’s biggest flip-flop was on the metro rail project in Mumbai. The Vilasrao Deshmukh government ‘in principal’ approved the Konkan Railway’s SkyBus proposal for the city, but never did anything to make it a reality.

The current team had reopened the debate on the Metro Rail. It asked the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) — it had earmarked Rs 100 crore for the SkyBus proposal — to prepare a feasibility report. Simultaneously, Mr Shinde also talked about an elevated rail project. Status: None of them is anywhere near takeoff.

It’s become a routine affair for every government to talk about transport using the sea, the current regime being no exception. The government invited bids and even signed a contract for water ways to connect the western suburbs to south Mumbai. However, the project couldn’t get off the ground.

It’s not just road projects that have failed to make any headway. The new international airport at Navi Mumbai is yet another example of a major project that has remained on paper. Land was earmarked for the project, roadsigns were erected, even an announcement was made, but the project has gonje into cold storage.

It’s a repeat story with the Rs 6,000- crore Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The government launched the project with much fanfare, and later handed it over to a consortium headed by Seaking promoter Nikhil Gandhi. Mr Gandhi is trying to achieve financial closure.

Besides these mega announcements, the government had also promised a scheme to make Mumbai slum-free. According to the Slum Rehabilitation Development (SRD) scheme, a builder willing to take part in this programme would have to provide free housing to slum dwellers and use the extra FSI to build and sell in the open market. The scheme has hardly any achievements to boast off.

Even the schemes that required no funding couldn’t be completed. For example, the government wanted to repeal the Urban Land Ceiling Act to make more land available for development. Despite a number of promises, Mr Shinde and his predecessor Mr Deshmukh failed to do so.
The government had also promised to enact the Maharashtra Infrastructure Development Act (Midas) that promises speedy clearance and implementation of infrastructure projects.

The Act offered to set up a nodal agency, the Infrastructure Authority, under the CM for a “one-window” clearance system for all infrastructure-related projects. But for reasons best known to the government, the Act remains where it is — on paper.

An international standard aquarium was another promise. So was a convention centre. Needless to say, not much has happened. A sad state of affairs for a city that contributes over Rs 65,000 crore to the national exchequer.

Ubermensch

September 15th, 2004, 08:54 AM

We should have the Eastern and Western freeways (including all these bridges) by 2010, but by then we may need a lot more....

True, I think that if these highways are about 3 - 4 lanes (each side) we should be set till about 2015. A very small % of Bombay's commuters use cars, and even in the US most ring roads are about 4 lanes on each side, however, you cant live in the US comfortably without a car! everyone drives!

Maybe with a good metro network, we wont need our cars for everday use? This might help balance things out and de-congest the roadways (Need to get rid of my car when I'm in NYC)

kshatriya

September 15th, 2004, 01:28 PM

True, I think that if these highways are about 3 - 4 lanes (each side) we should be set till about 2015. A very small % of Bombay's commuters use cars, and even in the US most ring roads are about 4 lanes on each side, however, you cant live in the US comfortably without a car! everyone drives!

Maybe with a good metro network, we wont need our cars for everday use? This might help balance things out and de-congest the roadways (Need to get rid of my car when I'm in NYC)
They should have at least 4 lanes on each side....though a good metro and bus system is what is really required, fast.

indian

September 16th, 2004, 01:04 AM

kshatriya

September 16th, 2004, 08:22 AM

Wasn't the eastern expressway about 14 lanes????
yes te eastern highway is being widened to 14 lanes (12+2 service lanes).

theguy

September 16th, 2004, 09:04 PM

when is it due for completion?

Hindustani

September 16th, 2004, 09:11 PM

when is it due for completion?

2007

ViMo

September 16th, 2004, 10:05 PM

2007

I came to know it was 2005!

Hindustani

September 21st, 2004, 08:29 PM

ViMo....Tardeo Towers official website doesn't say much. 2007 is the safest best for now.

Tardeo Towers (http://www.shapoorji.com/indexprop.htm)

RajKhalsa

September 22nd, 2004, 08:21 AM

Nice looking bridge!

Hindustani

September 22nd, 2004, 04:15 PM

Pedder Road faces towering problem
NAUZER BHARUCHA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2004 01:03:30 AM ]

MUMBAI: One of the city's most congested arterial routes, Pedder Road, which is clogged with vehicles throughout the day, will soon have a 40-storey-plus residential tower coming up on the main road, opposite Sterling Apartments. Local residents have already expressed concern about the problems the new construction will bring to the area in terms of increased pressure on the civic infrastructure.

The BMC's building proposals department says, for the record, that clearance for 32 floors—including four levels for parking—has been given for the tower, which is being developed by the Mittals of Ispat Industries. Clearance has also been given for a stilt, podium and basement. But a senior civic official confirmed that the developer could increase the number of floors if revised plans were submitted at a later stage.

If real estate sources are to be believed, the plan is to build a 47-storey structure. These sources said that with 47 storeys (including seven floors for parking), the skyscraper would be the second-tallest construction in the city after the Tardeo twin towers (60 storeys each), which are currently under construction. TOI has learnt that on July 27, chief fire officer A D Jhandwal gave a no-objection certificate for up to 40 storeys for the planned tower. When contacted, Jhandwal said he could not recollect this particular project. The architect of the building is a former municipal engineer, P K Santoke, who is in his late 70s.

Said Veena Singhal, chairperson of the Pedder Road Residents Association, "About 70% of the north-south traffic in the morning and evening passes on this road. With such a huge tower coming up, traffic jams willworsen." A few years ago, a fire in the ten-storey Anand Darshan on Pedder Road caused such a bottleneck that traffic was caught in a snarl all the way to Chowpatty.

Suncity

September 23rd, 2004, 01:21 AM

More land ahoy!
By: Deepali Nandwani
September 17, 2004

http://web.mid-day.com/hot_property/features/2004/september/92596.htm

http://web.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images39/mill-land-property.jpg

Land owned by corporate entities is being repurposed for housing. The glut may depress prices in several areas of Mumbai.

Central parts of Mumbai have seen a glut of land coming into the market for redevelopment. And this land is not mill land, nor is it restricted to areas like Parel.

The land actually belongs to different companies that have sold their excess holdings to property developers.

The idea, of course, is to cash in on the boom that's streaking through Mumbai's real estate market. The demand is huge, and the supply very little, which is where the corporates come in.

"A lot of companies hold huge tracts of land, which is basically a dead investment for them if just left lying around," says Rahul Srivastava, investment consultant, Allied Investment Services, who advises several down-and-out corporates on how to make big bucks out of their property holdings.

In the past year, more than 20 companies across India have sold property. Mumbai has witnessed the biggest property deals between companies and real estate developers.

Pharma major Glaxo SmithKline sold a plot at Worli for an estimated Rs 107.6 crore to I-Ven Realty, a joint venture between ICICI Venture Funds Management Company and Oberoi Constructions.

Texmaco has sold its leasehold land at Worli for an estimated Rs 21.5 crore to the K Raheja Group, while the Indian Hume Pipe Company has entered into a development agreement with some developers for its factory land at Wadala, for Rs 39 crore.

Other companies who have sold their land include Cadila Healthcare, Novartis India and Colour Chem.

There are yet others in line: companies like Pradeep Metals and Mafatlal Dyes intend to sell their properties and are in talks with various developers.

So big is the trend that property consultants like Knight Frank and Colliers have a separate land division dedicated to transactions involving land sales.
Besides advising companies on the various options that can unlock the value of their assets, the division also handles sale and purchase of land, and structures joint developments between landowners and developers or end-users.

The divisions also offer location analysis, feasibility reports, development potential of property, factors affecting development and issues related to joint development.

Most of the land sold by corporate entities is in areas like Worli, Parel, Wadala, Ghatkopar and Mulund.

Says Colliers Property Consultants CEO Akshaya Kumar, "If a lot of stock comes in at a good price, it is healthy. It will help firm up real estate prices further, which is very necessary for a healthy market. More volume means more people transacting."

Land prices in Worli, where two of the biggest transactions have taken place, stand at about Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 per square foot today.

The release of more land is unlikely to affect this price. In areas like Wadala and Sion, the prices may come down from the current range of Rs 1,700 to Rs 2,300 per square foot.

"If there is good infrastructure development in these areas, people who were forced to buy homes deeper in the suburbs may move to central areas," claims Kumar. "These may not be premium areas, but for those living in the far-flung suburbs, it is a good bet."

It is a win-win situation for everyone involved. For the companies that are sitting on several acres of land, selling parts of it is a good way to make money on their real estate assets.

Developers of course get huge chunks of land in the middle of the city. And for consumers, it means property prices will fall further, making it cheaper for some of them to move into homes closer to the centre.

Ubermensch

September 23rd, 2004, 06:07 AM

High-rise choke at Nana Chowk
10 Residential Skyscrapers To Come Up Around Congested Junction
By Nauzer Bharucha/TNN

Mumbai: Nana Chowk in south Mumbai may soon acquire the dubious distinction of being one of the biggest construction sites in the city. TOI has learnt that at least ten residential skyscrapers are coming up within a radius of less than 500 metres from the main Nana Chowk junction, the scene of a heavy north-south vehicular traffic flow every day.
This construction spree is mainly due to the state government’s controversial policy that gives builders unlimited floor space index (FSI) to redevelop dilapidated cessed properties in congested localities of the island city where the civic infrastructure has already been stretched to its limit.
Three towers will shoot up on the left side of the road leading to Grant Road station from Nana Chowk junction. One of them, a 15-storey structure, is being put up by a liquor bar owner, Krishna Shetty. Some way down the road, the developer firm, Jayant Enterprises, is constructing a high-rise with two wings—one with 24 floors and the second going up to 20 storeys.
On the main Nana Chowk road, just adjacent to the D ward municipal office, Orbit Constructions has amalgamated two plots called Shankarshett block and Irani chawl and is now building three towers— stilt plus 18 floors, ground plus 11 floors and ground plus 23 floors. Orbit proprietor Pujit Aggarwal claims that he will be surrendering 40 feet in setback area to widen the narrow road. About 40 flats in these towers will be sold in the open market even as Orbit will rehouse the 146 existing tenants in new buildings on the same land.
On the left side of the road leading to Gowalia Tank from Nana Chowk, builder Ajay Kamdar has already constructed two buildings—23 floors and nine floors in Papnaswadi, behind Golden Crown restaurant. He has also got clearance for a third tower for constructing 12 storeys. Jhaveri building residents plan to move court By Nauzer Bharucha\TNN
Mumbai: The ongoing construction that is likely to be challenged in court by some Nana Chowk residents is the one coming up on an extremely narrow plot adjacent to Adenwala Bungalow on the main road. It is planned as a 24-storey tower, and is being constructed by Universal Estates. A four-storey building called Bawla House once existed on this plot.
Residents of the adjoining Jhaveri Building have alleged manipulation by the builder of the actual number of original tenants residing in the erstwhile Bawla House. They are reported to be planning to file a writ petition against the builder’s move. Jhaveri Building residents are also piqued that the tower is coming up barely one to three feet away from their building.
“A skyscraper of 25 floors requires at least 30 feet of open space around it. This tower will have less than five feet of open space,’’ says an architect, who is helping the Jhaveri Building residents put up a case against the construction. The builder was unavailable for comment.
But permission for the mother of all skyscrapers in Nana Chowk is still pending with the civic administration, mainly because of opposition from local residents and former corporator Madhu Shetye. It pertains to the redevelopment of the D ward office. The developer, Eiffel Heights, proposes to construct a 50-storey-plus skyscraper on this land. He will also demolish and reconstruct the D ward office, the BMC staff quarters and a five-storey residential building in Jobanputra compound on the main Nana Chowk junction.
Incidentally, India’s tallest tower, the 45-storey Shreepati Arcade, is also at Nana Chowk. At 161 metres, the skyscraper is more than twice as tall as the 73-metre Kutub Minar.

kshatriya

September 23rd, 2004, 09:15 AM

First they cry about building the Peddar road flyover then they cry about this increasing congestion! :bash: Something needs to be done about the traffic, you can't oppose construction like this.

kshatriya

September 23rd, 2004, 09:19 AM

Wow it's booming alright. Great stuff!

kshatriya

September 23rd, 2004, 09:26 AM

kronik

September 24th, 2004, 03:59 AM

Work on Bandra sea link to begin soon (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu2&leftindx=2&lselect=1&chklogin=N&autono=168020)

Construction work on the Bandra-Worli sea link project is set to commence in a few months with the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) recognising Dar Consultants as the engineers to the project.

Earlier the state government had upped its earlier figure of Rs 120 crore to Rs 140 crore offered as the additional project costs (read cost escalations) to HCC, with the latter having rejected this amount.

The Hindustan Construction Company had pegged the project cost at Rs 694 crore for constructing the much amended Bandra-Worli sea link project, which would not include the additional 1.6 km portion of the throughfare that was subsequently included into the project by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).

A company spokesperson said, “The original scope of the project (pegged at Rs 400 crore) was for an eight-lane (3.7 km) sea link. This was subsequently changed into an eight lane sea link upto Worli, including an additional 1.6 km tract on the proposed throughfare on the sea portion, with changes in the foundation and a 660 metre link from land. This design underwent further changes from MSRDC which then sought a four-lane sea link while conceding to HCC a price escalation on the original rate by a multiplying factor of 1.67.”

The MSRDC again amended the project design to encompass an eight-lane sea link that would stretch from Bandra to the Khan Abdul Gaffar road with a cable-stayed bridge at Worli, changes in the foundation along with the Bandra cable stayed bridge and the link bridge from land to sea.

nova

September 26th, 2004, 05:37 AM

Agreed...
It's high time they worked on improving the civic infrastructure to support the construction of towers, instead of saying that the infrastructure can't support it.

Ubermensch

September 26th, 2004, 06:36 AM

My thoughts exactly!!

Improve the infrastructure!! dont full about buildings, these guys just want to take the easy way out.

Suncity

September 27th, 2004, 07:46 PM

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=138047

kshatriya

September 28th, 2004, 08:25 AM

Sena-BJP manifesto: Metro rail, CNG...
By: A Mid Day Correspondent
September 28, 2004

http://web.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images40/roads289200491942.jpg

The Shiv Sena-BJP, which is releasing its manifesto today will woo Mumbai voters with infrastructure projects, primarily wider roads.

The saffron combine which earned the goodwill of voters by constructing 55 flyovers and the pathbreaking Mumbai-Pune Expressway know what the voters of Mumbai want: excellent infrastructure.

Another carrot will be Sena chief, Bal Thackeray’s pet promises: free electricity to farmers and loan waivers for rural masses.

“We will be promising voters of Mumbai better and wider roads like Nagpur and Thane. When our government was in power, we posted IAS officer, T Chandrashekhar to the Thane Municipal Corporation.

The same officer is now posted in MMRDA, but the Democratic Front government doesn’t seem to be able to tap his talents,” said a senior Sena leader.

The other enticements for Mumbai voters are a metro railway, a huge network of CNG stations to reduce pollution and augmentation of water supply projects.

And there is something in store for slum dwellers too. The slum rehabilitation policy introduced by the Shiv Sena government in 1995 will be reintroduced with major changes.

But there will be no zunka bhakar scheme this time as most of the plots provided to Maharashtrian youth were sublet to South Indians. Instead, the Saffron combine plans to give vocational training to youth, which will help them generate self-employment.

One of the major promises made in this manifesto is the completion of the Nhava-Sewree link. The cost of the 22-km-long project has escalated to Rs 2,000 crore as successive governments haven’t worked on it.

Meanwhile, the Congress which may release its manifesto in the next three days is focusing more on slum dwellers.

The manifesto is being prepared by a committee headed by Ramrao Adik. “We will address the problems of slum dwellers, the closure of factories etc. Improving traffic conditions may also be on our agenda,”says Adik.

http://web.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/september/93324.htm

Clearly trying to woo voters because of the Congress govt's failure to get infrastructure projects going. Like this -

Road-widening project hits a roadblock
By: Gigil Varghese
September 28, 2004

The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority’s (MMRDA) Rs 806 crore plan to widen the main arterial roads in Mumbai, which was supposed to change the face of Mumbai by August 2005, has not even started.

And whether it will be completed in the next nine months, is anybody’s guess.

“Work will start in full force only after the Assembly elections. We might not be able to meet the deadline of August 2005. It could take us an extra six months,” says R Ramana, head of town planning, MMRDA.

The plan was announced in February 2004. But MMRDA has not even issued notices to the commercial shops and slums lining the roads, asking them to vacate. Almost 25,000 tenements for rehabilitation are ready for 35,000 slum dwellers.

But still, no plan finalising the place for the rehabilitation of the commercial shops has been drawn out.

“The project was to widen the roads to accommodate more traffic,” says Ramana. Most of the commercial shop owners lining these roads recall engineers measuring the road and some obscure talk of road-widening doing the rounds.

But nothing has been officially communicated to them. Gopal Khandara owns a grocery shop on the Sion-Kajurmarg Road, which falls under the 16-corridor plan for widening.

According to him, an engineer had visited the site three months ago. “I have not received any notice as of now but I am ready to shift anywhere as long as it is on the main road,” he says.

Kailash Ojha, medical store owner on S V Road, Bandra, says, “I have not received any notice and I have no idea about the project.” There are some shop owners who have received notices.

Automobile dealers at Milan subway in Santacruz received their notices on September 20. They were ordered to vacate within 10 days.

Shyamji Gadda who owns a shop there for the past 13 years is bitter about leaving the place.

Excuses for delay are being pinned on slum dwellers and the shop owners lining the roads. But road rollers and mixers are yet to roll on the Andheri Sahar Road, which is not lined with shops or slum dwellers.

About the project

• The 16-corridor plan under the Maharashtra Urban Infrastructure
Project (MUIP) aims at widening a total length of 137.88 km of roads.
• Cost: Rs 806.93 crore.

• Some of the main roads are Saki Vihar Road, Marol Maroshi Road, Andheri Kurla Link Road, Sahar Airport Road, Sion to Kanjurmarg.

nova

September 28th, 2004, 03:31 PM

Very nice hotel.

Hindustani

September 28th, 2004, 06:20 PM

It looks quite nice.

nova

September 29th, 2004, 01:08 PM

Hmm.. at least they want to woo voters on legit/useful grounds. Hopefully then the opposition can promise even better.

END RESULT: The Mumbai voter wins. :D

Ubermensch

September 29th, 2004, 06:05 PM

Hmm.. at least they want to woo voters on legit/useful grounds. Hopefully then the opposition can promise even better.

END RESULT: The Mumbai voter wins. :D

Yeah...

Even though I'm not a big fan of the Shiv Sena, due to their bullying and fundamentalist views, I have to say, they have done the most for Bombay and Maharashtra in recent years.

The current congress government hasnt done ANYTHING. The Sena, built the 50+ flyovers, the Bombay - Pune expressway, and loads of other infrastructure development work.

Very difficult decision!

kronik

September 30th, 2004, 05:15 AM

Yeah...

Even though I'm not a big fan of the Shiv Sena, due to their bullying and fundamentalist views, I have to say, they have done the most for Bombay and Maharashtra in recent years.

The current congress government hasnt done ANYTHING. The Sena, built the 50+ flyovers, the Bombay - Pune expressway, and loads of other infrastructure development work.

Very difficult decision!

All i hope is that whichever party wins, they should not be what this government has been, a 'philanthropist' throwing the state into a debt burden of millions.

Suncity

October 1st, 2004, 04:41 PM

Look what’s in store for an iconic bungalow

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=101622

20-storey building may come up atop writer’s home

Chitrangada Choudhury & Rajshri Mehta

Mumbai, September 30: While Manmohan Singh pays tribute and Sushilkumar Shinde announces a state funeral for writer Mulk Raj Anand, Cuffe Parade’s Taraporewala Mansion, where Anand spent over five decades of his life, lies in a shambles. Anand is said to have moved in here in 1946.

The building is listed as a Grade II Heritage structure, but it may soon give way to a 20-storey highrise—as happened with Buckley Court, a similar Colaba heritage bungalow, once called Buckley Court Hotel.

Built in stages in the early 1900s on the newly developed Cuffe Parade seafront, the mansion’s elegant domes and intricate stonework make it one of the few remaining examples of Indo-Saracenic architecture in Mumbai.

‘‘I had got the Heritage Committee’s NOC in 2002 for the proposed development,” says architect consultant for the proposed highrise, Hafeez Contractor who refuses to confirm the identity of his ‘industrialist client’. ‘‘The building hasn’t taken off still.’’

However, on September 11, Shyam Chainani of the Bombay Environmental Action Group had written to Municipal Commissioner Johny Joseph as well as D M Sukhtankar, chairperson of the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) asking them to stop demolition of any portion of the site.

‘‘The committee will re-examine the proposal at their meeting on October 6,’’ said Ramakant Rahate, deputy municipal engineer.

Meanwhile, historians point out the need to preserve this part of literary history. ‘‘If I were them, I would straightaway revoke the earlier clearance,’’ says historian Sharada Dwivedi. ‘‘In any civilised society, you would have at least a memorial plaque put up recording the years this great writer lived here.’’

The architectural heritage is just as precious. ‘‘The Taraporewala Mansion is a fabulous heritage building,’’ says conservation architect Vikas Dilwari. ‘‘And it is a classic example of how good architecture is left to decay by delisting under the pretext of cessed property.’’

Cessed buildings are those constructed prior to the 1940s. An amendment in the 1991 Development Control Rules gave over-riding powers to builders to redevelop cessed properties even if they were in heritage precincts. The demolition of sturdy stone buildings at Parsi Colony, Nana Chowk, as also in this case, are due to this amendment.

‘‘Only the shell remains,’’ says Dwivedi, ‘‘but a very beautiful shell.’’ Perhaps the mansion could serve to preserve and showcase Anand’s legacy?

South Mumbai MP Milind Deora calls it ‘‘a very good idea’’. ‘‘After October 16, if approached with a plan along these lines, I will take it up with the relevant authorities, irrespective of which party comes to power.’’

Is Taraporewala going the Buckley way?
When a highrise was proposed on the site of the Buckley Court Hotel (left) in 1995, architect Harshad Bhatia, then a member of MHCC had dissented. He said the developer was commercially exploiting the heritage site by raising the stilt height to almost double the height of the existing listed structure.

A similar proposal is envisaged in the Taraporewala Mansion (right) case. While 70 per cent of the facade of the ground plus one storey mansion will remain intact, the heritage building will be piggy-backed by the 20-storey building on its east side.

Some pics:

Taraporewala mansion rendering:

http://www.hafeezcontractor.com/housing/apartmentbuilding/taraporwala/1.jpg

The Buckley Court building (note the old structure and the new structure)

http://www.hafeezcontractor.com/housing/apartmentbuilding/buckleycourt/1.jpg

http://www.hafeezcontractor.com/housing/apartmentbuilding/buckleycourt/6.jpg

Suncity

October 1st, 2004, 04:52 PM

Poll Boycott

SIKKANAGAR CITES BURDEN ON INFRASTRUCTURE AS THE REASON

A colony says no to voting

Ketaji Ghoge

Mumbai, September 29: BOYCOTT the election.’ The message across a banner at grand old Sickanagar Colony, Girgaum, is not in jest.

On the threshold of Assembly elections, the message—backed by the 1,500-odd residents of its 16 societies and two chawls—is strong enough to chill the local politician.

‘‘This is no stunt,’’ says Chanakya Merchant (67), a resident of the colony for the last 50 years.

The reason for the boycott? "Mindless" development along the bustling V P Road, Girgaum, which has thrown civic issues of hygiene, traffic and infrastructure into a tizzy.

Water supply, which depends on an ancient water line here, is now pressured by high-power pumps installed by builders to provide water to the higher storeys—at the cost of the old residents.

Traffic is unbearable and there are no more open spaces in the area.

The struggle, residents say, started two years ago when they were informed about a tower being built in their locality.

‘‘The strain on our basic amenities is already too much. In the last 20 years, four new buildings have been added to our colony,’’ says Merchant, a chartered accountant.

Soon, the residents—part of a tight-knit community that largely comprises Gujaratis—realised that all of ‘D’ ward was being developed in a similar fashion.

Outside the narrow gates of the colony, a street away, is a "monstrous" 25-storey highrise. Along the narrow and bustling V P Road that connects Prarthana Samaj to C P Tank, four other towers are under construction.

So the residents decided to get their act together. They wrote to the civic body, the local MLA and Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority about development rules.

Nothing happened.

‘‘They are not bothered. Do these people actually visit the site before granting permission to build a tower?’’ fumes Manish Mehta, a shopowner and a resident of the colony.

Now, after the Sikkanagar Residents Association (SRA) has put up banners, there are murmurs.

‘‘The local MLA asked us to take the banners down because they were sending a wrong message. Why should we? Ours is a legitimate struggle. Another candidate’s willing to meet us,’’ says Hemantbhai Choksi, a pharmaceutical businessman.

But the residents are adamant. For now, they say, they are united in their stand.

****

a) Right opposite Sikkanagar, a "monstrous" 21-storey tower has come up at the 20-ft-wide junction of the narrow Sadashiv Lane (or Kandawadi as it’s known colloquially)

b) Construction is underway of a 22-storey tower at the bungalow plot of late industrialist Khilachand Devchand

c)Another 22-storey tower is being built at Parekhwadi, a stone’s throw from Sikkanagar

d) There are proposals to build two similar towers at Gowalia Tank

*******************

My point: The question is how much of this is hoopla and how much is fact.

Suncity

October 1st, 2004, 04:55 PM

MHADA, MMRDA eye Cuffe Parade land
By: Gigil Varghese
September 30, 2004

http://web.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/september/93480.htm

The Cuffe Parade landscape could witness a sea change in the coming days. For the first time, two government bodies, MHADA and MMRDA, are conspiring to alter with the high-tide line of the city at Cuffe Parade.

A plot measuring 60 acres worth Rs 1,500 crore near Backbay Reclamation in Cuffe Parade, which is the biggest slum in South Mumbai, has caught the fancy of the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA), Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) and the builder lobby.

The plot falls under Coastal Regulation Zone I (CRZ), which means nothing can be built on it.

The plan

In these 60 acres are three slums colonies, Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar, Rajak Nagar and Ganesh Murti Nagar.

In addition to these slums the area is bordered by the Backbay Bus Depot, a helipad, which is not encroached, a parade ground and MHADA’s transit camp.

MHADA has proposed a plan to the planning authority MMRDA by which the current slums could be replaced by sprawling residential complex, schools, supermarkets and the like.

In order to make the plot more attractive to prospective buyers, MHADA has proposed a few changes to the MMRDA.

One of the most important is the re-definition of the high tide line at Cuffe Parade. This is the first time that a government body has insidiously proposed reclamation to a restricted area, which falls under the CRZ 1 category.

A plot reserved for as a parade ground (which was never used) is proposed to be de-reserved and developed into a residential complex.

The plan also proposes that the current Backbay bus depot be relocated and a high-rise come up in its place.

The bus depot is proposed to be relocated on the first floor of the building. The depot would be a three-floor multi storied bus park and the rest of the floors would house slum dwellers.

The helipad is also proposed be replaced by a high-rise and the terrace will serve as a helipad.

The proposal was put forward to MMRDA on July 2, 2004 and it was swiftly approved by MMRDA on July 6, 2004.

“MMRDA has given its approval for the project and put it forward to the government,” said T Chandrashekhar, joint commissioner, MMRDA.

Hindustani

October 1st, 2004, 05:52 PM

Suncity.....I am all game for this "conspiring" as they put it. Mumbai is putting a 14 lane expressway I believe along Cuffee Parade if I am correct. Its definitely a time those slums see happy days.

Ubermensch

October 1st, 2004, 09:34 PM

Jai

October 1st, 2004, 10:17 PM

why...

how deliciously evil.....!

Suncity

October 1st, 2004, 11:12 PM

Yes, conspriring is fine.. but will the minister be willing to upset his/her vote bank?

Also, relocation must be provided! Anyone has any details about this 16 lane highway? personally never heard of it.

Don't know about the highway. But the relocation will have to be in some of the new buildings that come up. The article mentions the bus depot.

Will this happen?

indian

October 2nd, 2004, 02:31 AM

Although the Taraporwala mansion looks good, I don't want to it to come at a heritage place..They could build it somewhere else.

nova

October 2nd, 2004, 07:58 AM

Whether it happens or not will be very telling...

nova

October 2nd, 2004, 08:01 AM

Can't say..
Either this is:
a) A case of unplanned development genuinely causing grievance, OR
b) Hoopla

Anyone living in Mumbai who might know?

kshatriya

October 3rd, 2004, 11:18 AM

The enviornmentalists sure have their hands full now :lol:

indian

October 3rd, 2004, 05:13 PM

Suncity.....I am all game for this "conspiring" as they put it. Mumbai is putting a 14 lane expressway I believe along Cuffee Parade if I am correct. Its definitely a time those slums see happy days.

Is there enough space alond Cuffe Parade for the 14 lane Xway?Isn't that area congested.
Anyway, good news for Mumbai.

pakboy

October 7th, 2004, 05:33 PM

SRK Towers!

We all know that Shah Rukh Khan towers! Now we mean that literally! Yup, we believe that the King Khan is planning on building a six-storied building called SRK Towers alongside his bungalow, 'Mannat', in Bandra. He has sought permission from civic officials and is awaiting a response. SRK is also planning on buying a house in London. Watch this space for more updates!

Suncity

October 10th, 2004, 03:47 AM

Consolidating all Mumbai development news threads here...

Ubermensch

October 10th, 2004, 05:43 AM

drwho

October 11th, 2004, 07:52 PM

Raj Bhavan high-rise stays
Rajshri Mehta

Mumbai, October 1: THE STATE is pushing ahead with plans for a high-rise block at the Raj Bhavan complex, thanks to a ‘flexible’ interpretation of heritage rules that will let it knock down two 150-year-old stone buildings.

The state Urban Development Department has redefined the area north of Raj Bhavan’s public gate a ‘non-heritage’ zone to allow the construction of a 14-storey apartment building for 132 low-grade Raj Bhavan employees.

The new definition means the state won’t have to get clearance for the high-rise from the Mumbai Heritage and Conservation Committee, though two 19th century buildings, used as staff quarters, will have to be demolished.

The move has triggered fierce resistance from some in the heritage field, who fear that the ‘slicing up’ of Raj Bhavan’s heritage zone sets a dangerous example to private developers seeking to build in heritage areas.

‘‘The proposal to carve out a separate segment excluded from heritage classification is absolutely illogical and irrational,’’ said activist and Heritage Committee member Cyrus Guzder.

Guzder argued that each building at Raj Bhavan ‘‘contributes to the ambience of the complex and reflects the life of the era (when it was built),’’ and could not be given different classifications.

‘‘The buildings outside the north gate do not possess any characteristics of heritage buildings,’’ countered the governor’s private secretary Sumit Mallik.

‘‘We had explored plans but constructing a seven-storey building was not possible,’’ he said. ‘‘Why should heritage rules apply to the governor but not to private developers building skyscrapers on Malabar Hill?’’

To placate its critics, the state has promised to add nine more Raj Bhavan buildings to the heritage list.

Only two buildings in the Raj Bhavan complex—the Banquet Hall and Marina Villa—are currently listed. This, the state says, backs up its case.

‘‘If the complex has heritage status, why put the names of two buildings in the list?’’ said Ramanand Tiwari, principal secretary of the Urban Development Department. ‘‘We are clarifying a confusing situation.’’

rajshrimehta@expressindia.com

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=101777

drwho

October 12th, 2004, 07:42 AM

Here is a list of skyscrapers/towers that are UC:

Mumbai:
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/bu/sk/li/?id=102037&bt=2&ht=2&sro=1

Navi Mumbai:

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/bu/sk/li/?id=101456&bt=2&ht=2&sro=1

Thane:

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/bu/sk/li/?id=102046&bt=2&ht=2&sro=1

Jai

October 13th, 2004, 05:25 AM

kronik

October 15th, 2004, 10:51 PM

i came across something. Here is a picture of the Turbhe station.......

http://www.irfca.org/photos/albums/Stations/Turbhe.jpg

the station looks nice, and then i was searching for where Turbhe is, i came across this news article in Mid Day Mumbai........

What's happening to Turbhe station? (http://www.mid-day.com/metro/vashi/2004/september/93126.htm)

The Rs 25 crore newly-constructed Turbhe station has now become a haven for anti-social elements and a dumping ground for garbage.

Two weeks ago, this reporter noticed a crowd of around 10 people playing cards in the station. Around six garbage bins in the vicinity have not been cleared for several days, creating a stink in the area.

Officials admit that the station premises are being misused. BR Gaikwad, CIDCO PRO, says, “Turbhe has an expanding slum population and the lack of sanitary facilities adds to the problem of slumdwellers occupying the station premises. We will look into that aspect.”

the station is not functional yet, so maybe thats why.

Suncity

October 15th, 2004, 11:44 PM

I have an aerial pic of the area. But it is so hazy. I will post it later..

kshatriya

October 19th, 2004, 10:43 AM

http://web.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images41/turbhe19102004103225.jpg

Thane-Vashi rail route set on right track
By: Binoo Nair
October 19, 2004

The first goody that the new chief minister will present to the city will be the Thane-Vashi railway line being constructed by Central Railway (CR).

The project is jointly financed by CR and the state government-run CIDCO.

The last round of the safety inspection on the line, being done by the Commissioner of Railway Safety Sudhir Kumar, will be completed today and the CR expects to have a sanction to get the train running by late this evening or tomorrow. Kumar inspected the project yesterday.

“We are ready to inaugurate the line now. The sanction from the CR is a legal requisite and we should get it, following which, within a few hours notice, the trains should start plying,” said a CR official.

Railway sources also said that Union Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav had kept his schedule free around this time, anticipating a call to grace the inaugural function.

“It is important for the state government to start on a right note and for Yadav it will be the first major addition to existing rail lines since he took over his portfolio in May,” the official added.

Former Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde was set to inaugurate the project on August 25, responding to letters sent by senior CIDCO officials to CR.

Shinde followed this up with a call to Yadav a week ahead of the schedule to grace the inaugural function. Curiously, he did not receive any response to the letter. The Election Code of Conduct implemented on August 25 finally stalled the programme.

“Railway officials had informed Yadav that inaugurating the line would have been unfeasible earlier as it wasn’t complete. It was understood that the line would be inaugurated as soon as a government was in place.

There would have been a small problem if the Sena would have come to power because Yadav wouldn’t have been keen to share the dais with the Thackerays for sure,” a Railway Board official said.

http://web.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/october/95060.htm

kshatriya

October 19th, 2004, 10:47 AM

An article after the Congress-NCP has come back to power.

Will Mumbai suffer under Cong-NCP rule?
By: Yogesh Naik
October 17, 2004

With the Congress-NCP winning the Assembly polls, Mumbai has more to lose than to gain.

A few bureaucrats in Mantralaya have expressed fears that most funds will now be set aside for farmers, cooperatives (sugar, milk and textiles) and for tackling the after-effects of drought and not for crucial city projects.

Unlike the Sena-BJP, who gave tangible assets for Mumbai (like 54 flyovers and the Expressway), the Congress-NCP did not give any, a bureaucrat said.

The only work started in the city during the DF rule was under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project-II. Even this had been scheduled for several years and could not be termed as an achievement, sources said.

The other impetus to infrastructure is the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project, which has north-south and east-west corridors and light rail transport service.

But several Congress and NCP workers keep opposing the shifting of slums, thereby delaying this project. Even the much-talked-of Marine Drive beautification project worth Rs 130 crore has not been started, though government sanction has been given, sources said.

Recently, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray had charged that T Chandrashekhar, the IAS officer in-charge of Mumbai projects, was not allowed to implement many projects.

“Mumbai was the Sena-BJP votebank. Most ministers were from Mumbai and they knew the importance of the projects,” an IAS officer in Mantralaya said.

With farmers as the Congress-NCP’s main focus, lesser funds will be slotted for Mumbai, it is feared. The DF has also promised that slums till the year 2000 will be regularised.

Sources said civic chief Johny Joseph is already planning to oppose this as the move will severely constrain Mumbai’s infrastructure and its resources.

With the Congress announcement, several slumlords have already begun constructing illegal structures, with the hope that they will get back-dated permissions.

“In fact, my empire seems to be growing now,” a Slum Rehabilitation Authority official told this paper yesterday. These constructions are on the rise in Mankhurd, Trombay and the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

The main worry of Mumbaikars is the apathy of Western Maharashtra politicians ruling the state.

“These Western Maharashtra politicians who rule Mumbai use it like a prostitute. They milk the city and take away the benefits to their constituencies,” Sena chief Bal Thackeray had said a couple of years ago.

The BJP-Sena had promised implementation of Vision 2020 had they been voted to power. This would have improved the city’s road and other infrastructure.

But with the DF coming back to power, the scope to turn Mumbai into Slumbai has widened, sources said.

http://web.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/october/94983.htm

kshatriya

October 19th, 2004, 10:50 AM

And then there's the other side. Which would you rather have??

Thackeray blames Muslims for Sena's defeat
Monday, October 18, 2004 (Mumbai):

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray finally broke his silence after the drubbing that his party got in the Maharashtra elections.

In an article in the Sena mouthpiece Saamna today, Thackeray hit back at the Congress-NCP combine, warning them of a backlash if they bask in the fact that they won the minority and the non-Maharashtrian vote.

Instead of blaming his party, he blamed voters, Muslims and migrants in particular, vote banks that Thackeray claimed brought victory for the Congress-NCP combine.

Muslim fundamentalism

Thackeray said large-scale conversion of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants into voters yielded rich dividends to the Congress.

The Sena chief wrote that in future the threat of Muslim fundamentalism will cost dearly not only to Congress but also to India.

He also made it clear that his son, Uddhav would stay on as the executive president of the party.

Uddhav's leadership had come under sharp criticism following the Sena's thumping defeat. "There is no need for any change. Balasaheb has full faith in Uddhav," said Manohar Joshi, Shiv Sena leader.

'Politics of exclusion'

Reacting to Bal Thackeray's comments, Mumbai Congress chief Gurudas Kamath said that the Sena should reconsider its politics.

"We represent all communities. No political party should play politics of exclusion. If Bal Thackeray feels that they haven't got votes of minorities, he should re-consider his politics," said Kamath.

Thackeray was alluding to the race for Chief Ministership between the Congress and the NCP. (With PTI inputs)

http://www.ndtv.com/assemblyelex2004/ie5framesmah.asp?callid=1&id=62225

Suncity

October 20th, 2004, 04:59 AM

This looks kind of cool

Dreams, Bhandup

http://www.hafeezcontractor.com/housing/residential/dreamsat/1.jpg

kshatriya

October 20th, 2004, 09:56 AM

^That looks good.

kshatriya

October 20th, 2004, 01:40 PM

Another Mumbai mill capitulates to commercialisation. This time it’s Mafatlal Mills at Lower Parel. (http://ww1.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/october/95120.htm)

kronik

October 21st, 2004, 12:04 AM

Making millions from Dharavi (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?hpFlag=Y&chklogin=N&autono=170451&leftnm=lmnu0&leftindx=0&lselect=0)

In a few weeks, a financial roadshow with a difference will set off from Mumbai. On sale will be Dharavi, the country’s largest slum. Beneath the squalor of this unusual asset is what Mukesh Mehta, architect, developer and indefatigable optimist, describes as “poverty with potential”.

Dharavi is an “organised slum”. Its 538-acres of illegally-built shops and tenements have mushroomed into a de facto town, with electricity, water, medical centres, a lively property market, cottage industries and 600,000 “aspirational” residents.

These mark out Dharavi from Mumbai's many slums, where half of the city's 18 million people live. As a seemingly enterprising slum-capital, Dharavi sits at the “bottom of the pyramid” -- a phrase coined by management guru CK Prahalad to describe the commercial opportunities of responding to the needs of the lowest-income consumers.

This is the message that Mehta hopes to convey to investors in Europe and North America when he leads a fund-raising delegation of politicians from Mumbai.

The gross domestic product is Rs 30 billion a year from leather, ceramics, recycled plastics, savoury snacks and garments. The leather industry, comprising 125 shops and 3,000 single-room factories, is the largest employer.

This is the basis of a transformation that Mehta estimates will cost Rs 75 billion over seven years. He has devoted the past seven years to the project but progress has been slow.

His plan, supported by the Maharashtra government, is simple: sell land for low-cost housing and give licences to develop commercial property as an incentive.

nithin

October 21st, 2004, 12:24 AM

Fusionist

October 21st, 2004, 12:38 AM

Hindustani

October 21st, 2004, 02:32 AM

This looks kind of cool

Dreams, Bhandup

http://www.hafeezcontractor.com/housing/residential/dreamsat/1.jpg

These are lovely to look at. I hope they come up soon.

kshatriya

October 21st, 2004, 06:55 AM

http://web.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images41/turbhe19102004103225.jpg

Nice structure.. but why for heavens sake don't they make atleast parts of the roof with glass or anyother material that would let in some sun through and coloured glasses would make them look futuristic ?
the top now gives a feel as if it is in a cave !
Actually most Navi Mumbai stations do have skylights, like this -

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/thegorelord/Navi%20Mumbai/nerul1.jpg

Suncity

October 21st, 2004, 05:57 PM

Blame it on the highrise...

High-rise horror

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=104162

It’s an alarming trend that’s fast spreading to Mumbai’s suburbs. South Mumbai, though, is undoubtedly the worst hit. As skyscraper after skyscraper comes up on prime property, our correspondent tunes into complaints of congested roads, water problems and garbage hills

Rajshri Mehta

Mumbai, October 20: It was a cloudy afternoon on July 18. Diamond dealer Dipak Maniar had come home for lunch when he felt feverish.

Thinking he was coming down with flu, Maniar, a resident of the dilapidated five-storey Mangal Bhuvan building in the C P Tank area, visited his family doctor.

Two days later, the 47-year-old was in a hospital bed after being diagnosed with falciparum malaria, the most dangerous form of malaria.

Two months ago, the state government set up a committee under retired chief justice A Agrawal to scrutinise proposals for buildings above 70 metres (24-plus storeys).
The committee was set up after Carmichael Road residents raised a stink over infrastructure problems in their area after the construction of two 60-storey buildings at Carmichael Road by Shapoorji Pallonji began.
The committee has not received a single proposal yet.

After 20 days in hospital, Maniar returned home. But within days, his 13-year-old daughter Dhvani, his wife and his aged parents were also admitted with malaria.

The Maniars’ case is not an isolated one. Local doctors in the V P Road area, Charni Road, have noticed a spurt in the number of malaria patients recently.

The culprit, they say, could be the water at construction sites. The stagnant pools serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes carrying the parasite.

‘‘We can only presume this to be one of the causes for the malaria outbreak,’’ says Dr Seema Shah, who runs a clinic at Sickanagar, close to Maniar’s building.

In just two weeks in September, Shah treated about 15 patients with symptoms of malaria—including her 10-year-old school-going son.

Over the last few years, South Mumbai has seen sporadic construction activity with builders cashing in on the state’s policy to redevelop old buildings.

The builder rehouses tenants and uses the extra floor space index he can avail of to sell flats in the market.

But as multi-storey towers rise, dwarfing buildings around them, it’s residents who are at the receiving end.

Crowded lanes, buildings jostling for space, overflowing gutters, unattended debris, leaking drainage and water pipes—the residents’ list of woes is a long one.

‘‘How can a tower be supported here?’’ rages Bharat Shah, an accounts consultant. Shah, Maniar’s neighbour, recently lost his 87-year-old father to malaria.

‘‘Buildings hardly have any space between them. Parked cars and scooters block internal and external roads, practically leaving no space to move,’’ he grumbles. Residents of Normandy building, Tardeo, are equally disgusted.

‘‘There was a time when I could see the sun rising from my window. Now, everything is dark and grey,’’ says a resident, refusing to be named.

His window opens into an eight-storey parking space built for the under-construction 60-storey towers in front of his building.

‘‘Authorities do not seem to be bothered about the civic infrastructure. I wonder whether these people actually visit a site before granting permission?’’ fumes Veena Singhal, chairperson of the Peddar Road Citizens Association. The anger is wasted on the civic body and the builders’ lobby.

‘‘Buildings are constructed as per the area available to us after rehabilitating tenants in old buildings,’’ says Sunil Mantri, a member of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry.

‘‘This is the state government’s policy,’’ he adds. ‘‘In fact the state should disband the technical committee set up to regulate high-rises.’’

Municipal Commissioner Johnny Joseph echoes Mantri’s views. ‘‘We are trying to solve the infrastructure issues by granting pipe water connections to new constructions only after 2006,’’ Joseph says, adding, ‘‘We are in the process of enhancing our water distribution system.’’

‘‘The law permits us to carry out this redevelopment. Yes, there is a question of infrastructure but the authorities should take care of it,’’ says Bhupesh Jain.

Jain is the director of Earth Developers, which built a 20-storey building and is now constructing a 23-storey building opposite Sickanagar.

‘‘Considering the space shortage, vertical expansion is the only answer,’’ Jain adds. Try explaining that to the Maniars.

***************

A similar story appeared in TOI.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/867251.cms

Malaria cases soar at city high-rise sites
MALATHY IYER

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2004 03:19:27 AM ]

MUMBAI: Unfettered construction activity in the city is leading to a spurt in the number of malarial cases, say doctors.

Numerous cases have been reported in the last few days, mainly among residents living in and around areas that are witnessing heavy construction work, they say.

Worse, these are cases of the falciparum parasite, which is more virulent and could be fatal if not detected in time, compared to the more commonly found vivax strain. Even civic officials whom TOI spoke to admitted that central Mumbai, with its mill lands and cessed buildings that are being redeveloped into towers, and Bandra in the western suburbs are emerging as the malarial hotspots of the city.

The construction work malaria equation is easy to establish: water used to cure cement at the sites forms puddles that act as the ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes that carry the malarial parasite. With a 30 per cent rise in the number of building construction proposals this year, one can imagine the potential health hazard to the city. "This year, there are 2,800 construction sites as against the usual 2,100 sites," says a BMC official.

Businessman Nadim Yusuf ’s case lends credence to this unhealthy equation. His office block in Agripada is surrounded by construction sites, with multi- storeyed buildings coming up in the congested locality.

The 26-yearold Yusuf has been recuperating at Jaslok Hospital after being diagnosed with falciparum malaria.

His doctor, Altaf Patel, who is attached to Jaslok Hospital as well as the state government-run JJ group of hospitals, says that he has treated five patients for falciparummalaria in the last few days. Another of his patients, 60-year-old Sudha Kapadia, lives in the CP Tank area, another locality where old buildings are making way for new construction

************************************

So what do you guys think about these two "news" items?

Are these just hoopla planted by people who are oppose the highrises for different reasons?

More Malaria cases = More high rise construction :jk:

Instead of asking for infrastructure development and steps to prevent water logging or garbage accumulation, they blame it on high rises!

It's like cutting of the head if you have a headache. Why not take some medicines or treat the problem instead?

Suncity

October 21st, 2004, 06:03 PM

I found this on the net by some blogger..

http://www.yazadjal.com/mt/archives/cat_environment.html

Suraj

October 21st, 2004, 06:51 PM

Ideally, development in Mumbai must occur in parallel with concerted efforts at implementing the MUIP/MUTP work ASAP. The delay in these projects, particularly the Sealink, is ridiculous. There is simply no other way but to have support infrastructure development *precede* highrises, as far as possible. Highrises are not isolated entities in themselves. They require a lot of support infrastructure - roads, power, water and sanitation. Building highrises in South Mumbai is poor idea. It would be like Manhattan - dense, overcrowded, expensive and miserable. There is a lot of space that can be reclaimed everywhere else but in South Mumbai, and of course in the Navi Mumbai area, which is ripe for expanded development.

Ubermensch

October 21st, 2004, 07:33 PM

So what do you guys think about these two "news" items?

Are these just hoopla planted by people who are oppose the highrises for different reasons?

More Malaria cases = More high rise construction :jk:

Instead of asking for infrastructure development and steps to prevent water logging or garbage accumulation, they blame it on high rises!

It's like cutting of the head if you have a headache. Why not take some medicines or treat the problem instead?

Seems like this is a problem with construction regulations. Construction companies must follow a certain (pertainining to the stangnant water problem and what not) in order to maintain a hygenic environment for the community during construction.

This has nothing to do with tall buildings in small areas. Definately two very skewed articles.

Suncity

October 21st, 2004, 07:58 PM

Calcutta/Mumbai..

Note that the news speaks of 70 storey twin towers. Now weren't they 60 at last count?

Law shift for modern city

A STAFF REPORTER
Calcutta needs a complete “chemical change” in its urban bylaws to realise its growth potential and transform itself into “a modern and kicking” city, felt Hafeez Contractor.

The architect from Mumbai was in town last week to speak at a seminar on ‘Contemporary architecture and built development in cities’, organised by Jadavpur University’s architecture department.

From FAR (floor area ratio) and FSI (floor space index) to parking, height and fire laws, there’s a pressing case for a radical re-look, according to the architect, who has designed the sparkling 70-storeyed twin towers in Tardeo — India’s answer to KL's Petronas Towers.

“And formulation of new laws should be delegated to progressive experts from the private sector so that solutions are rooted in reality,” he emphasised.

Pointing out that growth in Calcutta hasn’t kept pace with its population, Contractor prescribed continuous urban renewal and retrofitting heritage buildings alongside new-age development, besides addressing the vexatious issue of illegal residents and unregulated growth. “This city has some of the finest classical buildings and you must preserve your heirlooms,” he said.

With the downtown area choked by lack of road space and haphazard construction, Rajarhat could soon become the face of the new Calcutta, he stressed. “The potential there is huge and the formatting more structured,” said the architect who is designing DLF's big-ticket IT-retail combo in New Town.

Doing a slide presentation of some of his acclaimed projects like the Nestle headquarters in Gurgaon and the IIT Mumbai complex in Powai, he advised the aspiring architects “never to say no” to the client. “Be it classical, minimalist or contemporary — I design whatever the client wants, of course, after explaining my point of view,” offered one of modern India's most successful architects.

Suncity

October 21st, 2004, 08:03 PM

Slums or Highrises?

What we saw - What they saw

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=103892

You cheered and gasped while watching them perform breathtaking stunts at the airshow on Sunday. But the Indian Air Force pilots squirmed at what they could see—only slums.

Tejas Mehta

Mumbai, October 18: Slums, slums and more slums.

That’s all that Chetak pilots and the Suryakiran aerobatics team could see of Mumbai from the skies on Sunday.

‘‘Sixty per cent of Mumbai is covered by slums. And what is most amazing is to see the sprawling slums next to skyscrapers,’’ says Squadron Leader Asit K Singh.

The friendly Singh piloted a Chetak helicopter and greeted Governor Mohammed Fazal with 20 kgs of rose and marigold petals at Marine Drive.

The Suryakiran team agrees. ‘‘Why do you ask? You already know the answer,’’ guffaws Squadron Leader Sanjiv Sethi.

‘‘It’s all slums and I wonder how long it will take to clear them,’’ wonders team leader Wing Commander Prabhakaran.

It’s a question that the Congress-NCP government will find itself mulling over once it takes charge of the state government.

In a city rapidly losing its green zones, Singh says he also observed the shrinking of the Sanjay National Park from his helicopter.

‘‘There is blatant mining activity all along the Borivali-Goregaon stretch of the park. We could also see patches of barren land,’’ says Singh, suggesting possible deforestation.

Slums and pollution—the team noticed the smog in the city—apart, the team also saw something that would make architect Hafeez Contractor proud.

‘‘The Hiranandani residential complex at Powai looks like a fairy land. It’s just so beautiful,’’ exclaims Prabhakaran.

Were the air stunts stressful? No, says Prabhakaran.

‘‘Aerobatics is easy. Living in Mumbai is tougher.’’

nithin

October 21st, 2004, 08:55 PM

indian

October 22nd, 2004, 04:16 AM

Sad, not only for Mumbai, but for India as well.

Ubermensch

October 22nd, 2004, 05:13 AM

60 %!!!??? Wow that is just too much. that means that something like 6 million people live in slums. And it is still growing! And i know for sure that those politicians do nothing for them! I feel ashamed to hear this! :bash:

Uhmmm its been like that for a while now. So I dont know wht all the surprise is about. Its only with the recent elections that these stats are being thrown around. Good for awareness.

I would favor Bombay, Chennai, Calcutta, Bangalore and Hyderabad comming under the central governance as suggested by the CEO of infosys.

Atleast cities of critical importance to the nation like Bombay and Bangalore. Development in these cities cannot be held hostage local politics, the nation would suffer greatly if this continues.

You simply cant make the NCR, the financial, IT and political capital of India, it just not going to happen. In my opinion, cities should be assigned priorities .

Bombay - Finance, finance, finance
Bangalore - IT
NCR - Government (defense co's, etc)
Hyderabad?
Calcutta?
Chenna?

indian

October 22nd, 2004, 05:43 AM

Calcutta: Manufacturing, eastern states need manufacturing to get them out of the mess.
Chennai: IT, it's pretty good at it. Or a major port for SE Asian countries.
Hyderabad: Use it as both manufacturing and IT base. Could boost development in central India.

drwho

October 22nd, 2004, 06:26 AM

$7 bn headed for Indian realty
Ankita Sarkar / New Delhi October 22, 2004
Foreign players have committed $5 bn, domestic developers to bring in $2 bn.

The real estate sector is set to see a capital infusion of more than $7 billion in the next 12 months. Foreign players have committed around $5 billion, while domestic developers are likely to bring in $2 billion in phases.

Realty developers say easier land acquisition and registration norms in states are the main reason for the spurt in investment.

Some of the big projects likely to take off soon are the 10,000-acre special economic zone (SEZ) in Navi Mumbai, being built by the Hiranandani Group in association with the Singapore-based Jurong Consultants, the $500 million Quarkcity in Mohali and the $3 billion Royal Garden project in Bangalore, being built by the Vancouver-based Royal Indian Raj International Corporation (RIRIC).

“The SEZ in Navi Mumbai, which will include residential houses and plots, an IT park and retail and commercial complexes, will see an investment of about $2 billion in the first phase. We are in talks with other foreign players and the project will get more funding after the first phase becomes operational in two years,” Surindar Hiranandani, managing director of the Hiranandani Group, told Business Standard.

Other projects that are expecting funding include the $150 million IJM-Andhra Pradesh Housing Board project in Hyderabad, the $350 million IJM-Punjab Urban Development Authority in Mohali and the $115 million Lee KimTah-SPICOT project in Chennai.

As per the estimates of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association in India (CREDAI), the total investment in the sector in the next 12 months can be around $5-6 billion.

“The investment trend is more towards residential and integrated township development. Nearly 50 per cent of the capital flow is towards these projects because of spiralling real estate prices and people investing more in property,” a CREDAI spokesperson said.

However, despite foreign players having promised big funding, projects promoted by domestic developers are likely to materialise sooner. The move to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment in projects that are over 100 acres has not made much of a headstart in the past two years.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has cleared only three such projects -- those promoted by Feedback Ventures - Malaysia Consortium, RIRIC and Lee Kim Tah. Only the Lee Kim Tah - SIPCOT project has got a legal clearance. The $160 million Feedback Ventures project has been shelved after it got the FIPB’s approval.

“We have decided not to go ahead with the project as property development is not our core competence. We will like to focus on our advisory role,” Vinayak Chatterjee, chairman of Feedback Ventures, said.

Jones Lang Lasalle, consultant to the RIRIC project, said the land acquisition process was under way and it would take off only in the first quarter of 2005.

Domestic developers like Ansals have lined up Rs 200 crore for real estate projects. “We aim to invest 75 per cent of our corpus on residential properties in Jaipur, Panipat, Sonepat and Lucknow,” Pranav Ansal, chairman of Ansal Township and Land Development, said.

DLF has planned to pump in Rs 1,500 crore next year on developing shopping malls but is shifting its focus to residential projects. “Although Rs 1,500 crore has been earmarked for mall development, this year the focus will be more on extension of existing residential projects,” a DLF spokesperson said.

Others, like Unitech, Parsvanath and Raheja Group, will invest nearly Rs 1,000 crore next year. It is interesting to note that smaller developers, like the Gera group in Puna, Omaxe and Vatika in Delhi and Runwals in Mumbai, are betting big on the realty boom and have lined up over Rs 400 crore to be invested in the next 12 months.

Real estate fund Fire Capital will invest Rs 840 crore in a mixed use development project in the National Capital Region, a housing township in Bangalore and a housing and commercial project in Poona.

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?hpFlag=Y&chklogin=N&autono=170524&leftnm=lmnu2&lselect=0&leftindx=2

Suncity

October 22nd, 2004, 06:38 AM

Do we really need to preserve all sundry bunglows as "heritage" bunglows sprawled over prime property in land starved Mumbai?

Builders home in on old bungalows in Mumbai
NAUZER BHARUCHA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2004 12:17:38 AM ]

MUMBAI: A row of sprawling colonial-style bungalows and mansions off Napean Sea Road is being targeted by builders with tall cash dreams. Most of these bungalows are not on the heritage list, which would have prevented them from being demolished. The other big estates on this stretch are the Raj-style Hill Side Villa, property owned by former attorney general Soli Sorabjee's family, the Morarka property, the sprawling Gamadia estate and Laxmi Villa.

Prosperous House, which is reported to have been bought over by Govani builders, was once owned by the late Ardeshir Dubash who made his fortune in stevedoring during World War I. Today, it has only two tenants. The adjoining Napean Terrace, old-timers say, carries a stigma because the only person who died on Napean Sea Road during the 1896 plague had rented it out. It is a three-storeyed house in old French colonial style. TOI has learnt that one of the biggest property redevelopers in south Mumbai, Haresh Mehta, has recently acquired it.

"No one will admit it, but all bungalow owners here have received feelers from one developer or the other in the last four years," says a local bungalow resident. "Earlier, no one was interested in these estates. However, after the state government liberalised the use of floor space index (FSI) for old, cessed buildings, builders have realised the tremendous development potential of these properties," he adds.

With reports that the recently sold Cosy Home, the Cama family mansion located some distance away at Doongersey Road, is also likely to be razed by its new owner, a part of the city's architectural history is in danger of being wiped out, say heritage activists.

In fact, the redevelopment of old bungalows and mansions in this area began more than three decades ago. Napean House, which was once located behind Napean Terrace, went under the hammer years ago and the FSI from this plot was used to built an apartment block called Ashiana. Kshitij, a skyscraper on Napean Sea Road, came up a few decades ago on a bungalow property owned by Cowasjee Jehanjir. Similarly, the Maharaja of Barodas palace gave way to the residential building, Jal Darshan.

Says conservation architect Neera Adarkar, "While the state government wants a fresh listing of all heritage structures in the city, its own policy of allowing unlimited FSI to redevelop cessed properties is leading to the demolition of such structures." Abroad, the government gives various tax incentives to the owners of such heritage properties in order to encourage them to preserve their estates. "Here, the authorities are encouraging builders to pull down bungalows," Adarkar adds.

Suncity

October 22nd, 2004, 05:04 PM

60 %!!!??? Wow that is just too much. that means that something like 6 million people live in slums. And it is still growing! And i know for sure that those politicians do nothing for them! I feel ashamed to hear this! :bash:

That article is an exaggeration. If 60% of Mumbai were slums then 90% of people would be living in them (slums have more popultion density). It would also depend on where they were practicing. If along the eastern side then there are huge slums (Dharavi). If along the west - then mostly highrise / midrise buildings. The reporter is just baiting the officers to say something that would fit the article.

Here's a sample made up by me ;-)

Reporter: So what did you see from up there?

Officer: It was amazing

Reporter - So you saw a lot of slums? Lots of them? Spread out all over?

Officer - Umm, Why do you ask?

Reporter - So like 60% was slums..right?

Officer - ..There were plenty of slums. Don't know how they will be able to clear the slums.

Next day's report:

Pilots see ocean of slums..

Fusionist

October 23rd, 2004, 12:16 AM

Actually most Navi Mumbai stations do have skylights[/IMG]

Thats a relief. Wish they were bigger and funkier though

Suncity

October 23rd, 2004, 06:29 AM

Thats a relief. Wish they were bigger and funkier though

By suburban station standards, Navi Mumbai stations are huge. Vashi and Belapur are really big. Nerul and Sanpada are decent sized.

kshatriya

October 23rd, 2004, 08:13 PM

Thats a relief. Wish they were bigger and funkier though
Here's another image of the same station (Koperkhairane) -

http://www.lancogroup.com/groups/constructions/imgs/railway-1.jpg

Nightsky

October 26th, 2004, 02:12 PM

Supertall twin towers have started construction in Mumbai. They will be he tallest buildings so far in India. They are called the S D Towers.
The height is not confirmed yet, but the tallest tower will have 60 floors and it will be over 200m.

More info on Emporis:
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=140605

My drawings of the buildings:
http://img59.exs.cx/img59/1321/SD_Tower1_Mumbai.gif
S D Tower 1, Mumbai (u/c)

http://img59.exs.cx/img59/5019/SD_Tower2_Mumbai.gif
S D Tower 2, Mumbai (u/c)

drwho

October 26th, 2004, 02:17 PM

Hej Nightsky !:)

Yeap they are U/C now,lets hope that the pictures from U/C-site comes soon :)

kshatriya

October 26th, 2004, 02:39 PM

Nice drawings. Yes they are u/c now, though delayed due to some court trouble. Here's the render from the developers website.

http://www.shapoorji.com/60_strories_big.jpg

Suncity

October 26th, 2004, 03:29 PM

Those are great Nightsky!!!

The project is also mentioned in the Hafeez Contractor website (new appearance). It shows two different renderings (?) but I think this one is the latest.

http://www.hafeezcontractor.com/housing/apartmentbuilding/mpmill/mpmill-frame.html

Hindustani

October 26th, 2004, 04:26 PM

since these are twin towers, I like to see one of different design. It'll look cool. I am not a big fan of identical twin towers. You should not rob the spectators of picking picking their favorite.

kshatriya

October 26th, 2004, 05:37 PM

Beautify in haste, repent at leisure
By: Darryl D'Monte
October 24, 2004

The adage about marriage can well be extended to heritage make-overs in Mumbai: “beautify” in haste and repent at leisure. One wonders why the Maharashtra government is hell-bent on pursuing the Rs 130 crore Marine Drive refurbishment — the first Rs 30 crore phase of which is due to begin in December — without getting its act together first.

This may be part of McKinsey’s Vision Mumbai, which apparently includes the Gateway and airport highways.

But the city should surely wait for all the planning parameters to be in place before launching a scheme to spruce up the Queen’s Necklace — one of Mumbai’s greatest iconic landmarks and an art deco precinct to boot.

There is a precedent in that INTACH put forward a scheme to redo the Gateway four years ago simply because the navy was keen to do so before the international fleet review.

The proposal was submitted without any supporting studies, which is why the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee rejected it. In 1999, the BMC floated a short-lived proposal by Baccarat, a French company, and others to suspend a chandelier in front of the monument, in return for funding to restore it.

Critics raised objections and the Maharashtra government handed over the Gateway to the state archaeological department, which is reportedly “restoring” it insensitively.

At the fag end of a presentation last week, Ratan Batliboi, the architect who heads the consortium which has bagged the Marine Drive project, let the cat out of the bag when he cited the Western Freeway Sea Link, the current title of what was originally mooted as the West Island Freeway by Los Angeles consultants 42 years ago.

This now refers to the stretch between Worli and Nariman Point, a Rs 1,565 crore-plus project which has received the Centre’s environmental clearance.

As far as Marine Drive is concerned, the villain of the piece is the proposed 540-metre-long cable-stayed bridge between Raj Bhavan and Nariman Point.

The proponents of the current Marine Drive refurbishment seemed to imply that the sea link may never come about and the representative of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which is jointly funding the refurbishment with the BMC, did not dispel such illusions.

How can anyone plan any redevelopment of the Marine Drive promenade if its very raison d’etre is in question? Bridging the bay for the sea link will mean that the Queen is virtually decapitated, with a new multi-lane highway for cars not only negating its current function as a busy thoroughfare but questioning the very aesthetics of any make-over.

As Salil Ranadive, an architect who a few years ago presented yet another ill-fated scheme to redo Marine Drive — to be funded by Reliance Industries — observed, it would then be a shadow of its former self. It would transmogrify almost into a backwater, used primarily by its residents and those of Malabar and Cumballa hills and Girgaum.

Those heading for Worli would exit from the sea link there, while the bulk of traffic — even a few years ago, 125,000 cars were estimated to travel from Nariman Point to Bandra and beyond every day — would proceed further northwards.

If the sea link does not materialise, it will represent a grotesque planning debacle. After fits and starts, the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (cost Rs 700 crore, likely to escalate) is being built and over a lakh motorists will head towards the central business district of south Mumbai.

The traffic will simply choke to death in Worli and Mahalakshmi, causing even worse snarl-ups on Peddar Road.

Mr Batliboi is aware of this, considering that he built the Bandra reclamation promenade for the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), the same controversial agency which is erecting the Worli-Nariman Point link.

This actually calls into question this entire coastal highway, which is bound to have its eastern counterpart, now that MSRDC is masterminding the construction of the Sewri-Nhava Sheva Trans-Harbour Sea Link (variously estimated at Rs 6,000 crore with a railway, and Rs 4,000 — Rs 2,000 crore without).

If the Worli-Nariman Point stretch isn’t materialising, for financial or other reasons, why proceed even at this stage with Bandra-Worli? All over the world, planners are preventing cars from entering the central business district, while Mumbai is laying out the red carpet for them.

When, as seems more likely, the sea link does come about, can the present plans for Marine Drive hold water? The consortium has a “branding” partner who waxed eloquent about creating a “global landmark” on Marine Drive.

Who will enjoy the spectacle of the coloured fountains which will sway to music, or the revitalised art deco facades of the buildings, for which another Rs 25 crore is being earmarked? Will Marine Drive, strangulated by the bridge across its bay, present a proverbial Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark?

All this only reinforces, yet again, the need to throw open all make-over schemes for public consultation which, to their credit, the MMRDA and Batliboi consortium are planning to do.

There is talk of turning over refurbished Marine Drive to the BMC to maintain, which may prove a remedy worse than the disease.

The real solution would be for the residents’ association to grasp the bull by the horns and obtain a lease on it, which it will maintain with funds from public and private sources.

This is precisely the pattern implemented by the architect P K Das, albeit on a more modest scale, on two Bandra promenades and soon in Juhu. Unfortunately, Das, who also bid for Marine Drive with a German urban landscape architect who is designing part of the Queens Botanical Garden in New York, among several other top international projects, was disqualified from the competition for inexplicable reasons.

http://www.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/october/95500.htm

kshatriya

October 26th, 2004, 05:46 PM

Centre directs PWD to plant 14,000 trees

By: KP Babu
October 16, 2004

Residents will soon see more greenery on the Eastern Express Highway (EEH).

Union environment minister A Raja has instructed the tree department of the BMC and the PWD to ensure that compensatory tree plantation is done along the EEH after trees were felled to widen the road (metro July 31-Aug 6, 2004).

The union minister’s letter has cleared the ground for authorities to restart the widening work on the EEH which started in the second week of July.

Work stopped after Yuvak Prathistan, the NGO that planted around 8,000 trees along the highway, complained to the tree department and the union environment ministry about the large-scale felling of trees without permission.

According to Kirit Somaiya, president of Yuvak Pratishtan, the union environment ministry has informed him that a project has been prepared to ensure proper re-plantation of trees after the road widening. Somaiya says around 14,000 trees will be planted along the EEH between Mulund and Sion.

“They have to cut 4,827 trees more so twice the number of trees will be replanted. Around 5,000 trees will be planted for the trees that were cut earlier.” He adds, “We approached the union ministry as the officials of the tree department and PWD weren’t taking the issue seriously.

My NGO had a MoU with the PWD to beautify the EEH since 2000. We planted 8,000 trees along the 21 km stretch between Sion and Mulund as per this agreement.”

PWD, BMC to take action

A senior PWD official confirmed that instructions have received from the union environment ministry about replanting trees along the EEH.

He says, “We have submitted MMRDA’s project on the issue to the tree department for approval. Meanwhile, we have started work where there are no trees.”

Prakash Narangekar, superintendent, tree department adds, “We have got the MMRDA project. We will take a decision after looking at it.”

http://web.mid-day.com/metro/mulund/2004/october/94923.htm

A nice article -

Maximum city, minimum investment
By: Ashwini Kakkar
October 10, 2004

Last week the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry along with Bombay First, presented a seven-point memorandum to the prime minister.
He promised to consider sanctioning Rs 18,000 crore as a first step, provided — and here is the catch — that his government comes back to power in the state.

This, according to me, is one of the biggest reasons for Bombay’s neglect. For the last 10 years, the city has received no attention from the Centre because the government at the state and the government at the centre have been two different governments.

Every year, Bombay gives Rs 50,000 crore as tax to the Centre. In the last five years, only one project – the slum development of Dharavi — was sanctioned Rs 500 crore, of which Rs 50 crore were the actual expenses incurred.

Now allow me to make a guess, an educated guess. If one did a comparative analysis of the investment that has gone into Delhi and the investment that has gone into Bombay over the last 57 years of our Independence, I can bet my bottom rupee that the ratio is probably 10:1 — 10 for Delhi and 1 for Bombay.

Bombay needs breakthrough investment and it needs it big time. And if anybody’s listening – politicians, bureaucrats, the intelligentsia — we need Rs 2,00,000 crore. This is what we need it for:

Infrastructure
It’s a disaster. Every civilised city in the world has a ring road around it. Delhi has an inner and outer ring road, London had the M25, Paris had the peripheral.

Bombay is the only city in the world that does not have a ring road around it. We are proposing a pan-island expressway around the whole city so that the traffic from Bandra to Andheri does not get mixed up with the traffic from say, Cuffe Parade to Ahmedabad. Right now everything is going on the same two roads – Eastern Express Highway and Western Express Highway.

Trans-harbour link
Three hundred new families move into the island of Bombay everyday. If we have a trans-harbour link, new development will take place on the mainland.

From Sewri, we are looking at a six-lane bridge directly linking it to Navi Mumbai. Then we will have three bridges — the Thane creek bridge, the Chembur link and this trans-harbour link.

On the island, there is no more space — already 60 per cent of this island is living in slums. You cannot put a physical barrier or claim Mumbai is for Maharashtrians. The only solution is to start the development on the mainline so that it becomes the new hub.

Airport
The Mumbai airport takes in 40 per cent of the international traffic in and out of India and even though we have 70 airports in India, 25 per cent of the domestic traffic touches Mumbai.

We have not able to create even one good airport in the country. Because of this India has been reduced to a spoke destination while Dubai is the hub. Mumbai is best placed geographically in this area to be the natural hub – we’re eight hours from Europe and eight hours from the Far East.

Transport
The average rail car in a Mumbai suburban train carries 570 passengers. The optimum limit defined is 220. The Mumbai suburban rail traffic system carries over six million passengers a day.

All the investment into this has been made years ago and there has been no renovation made at all in this system.

Buses in Bombay carry four million passengers a day. We ideally need one bus for every thousand people.

Ports
Bombay port is the largest port in India but after the British, we have barely made any investment. The Alibag jetty is broken down; the Bombay harbour is in shambles. Only the Nhava Sheva port is doing quite well. But we need to work around the port facilities. Cruise liners prefer not to touch Bombay because there is no port.

Housing
60 per cent of the city lives in slums. So we need to provide around 1.2 million low-cost houses which can take care of six million people. It’s absolutely critical.

For that, some steps need to be taken — like the Urban Land Ceiling Act needs to be repealed. Equally, the mill land and the saltpan lands need to be suitably utilised by the government without getting into a builder-politician nexus.

Water
The water available to the city of Bombay is enough to satisfy only 75 per cent of the current demand. We are 25 per cent short on our requirement for water.

Sewage
The city’s sewage is being pumped back into the ocean, and as a result the whole sea around Bombay is starting to stink. This gives rise to other health and sanitation issues.

Health
The best doctors come from India and because of that our health care is slightly better than average, yet the facilities at the government hospitals are pathetic.

Education
Only 80 per cent of the people who live in Bombay are educated. It’s okay when you have 80 per cent of one million educated, but when you have 80 per cent of 20 million people, that’s four million uneducated people. Illiteracy comes with its own complexities and problems.

We’ve had personal meetings with officials from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF through the World Bank is willing to give us huge amounts of money but they want three assurances:
*All permissions from the government in advance, so that later on, the government does not renege on its permissions.
*1/3rd of the increase in taxes over the next five years should be used to repay the loan given to us
*No government involvement in the implementation program. The private sector should execute everything.

Because of these conditions, there is zero excitement on the part of the government, and don’t we know the reasons why!

Part of our problem is also that a lot of the people who live in Bombay are migratory people — they neither love the city nor have a passion for it.

They come from all over and this is their El Dorado. They make their money and go away. By the time they’ve reached the stage of self-actualisation, which is when they will start working for the city, they vanish.

If we can make Bombay a priority not only for politicians and bureaucrats but also for the intelligentsia, then we can drive a change much faster.

We are prepared to take this drive for change at every available platform — the press, TV, the manifesto level, the World Bank.

We’ve had meetings with Margaret Alva, the Urban Development ministry, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde — we are leaving no stone unturned. We are working closely with AGNI and Gerson Da Cunha. We are all a team and we want to see things change.

I do believe people have a love for Bombay somewhere deep within. What we need to do as citizens, is to make the needs of Bombay a priority for the local politician.

When politicians make public utterances – promising jobs and the like, we have to push them in that direction. They’ve said it in public and we’ve attributed the quotes to them. When we as pressure groups — citizen initiatives, civic groups, the press and the bureaucracy — pull in the same direction, I think there is great hope for aamchi Mumbai.

http://www.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/october/94367.htm

Ubermensch

October 26th, 2004, 06:42 PM

Nice Article!

Now here are some ppl who are working for the city. They have listed Bombay's problem catagorically and are pushing to improve the city. When I'm in Bombay in the winter I will try to get involved with this group.

Jai

October 26th, 2004, 06:59 PM

I've got a couple questions of this tower

Would the height of the towers be measured from the first occupied floor, or from the first floor of the parking garage.

Also, are the towers being built into the hillside (with a couple storeys sticking above the crest), leaving three sides of the parking garage fully exposed, or what?

Suncity

October 26th, 2004, 07:42 PM

Ubermensch

October 26th, 2004, 08:29 PM

That's good.

But don't forget the Mumbai pictures please!!!

:)

haha no I wont.

ON the topic of pictures.. for my trip I needed to buy a digital camera. Suncity which would be an approriate place to ask purchasing suggestions? (since we have some great photographers visiting this forum)

Suncity

October 26th, 2004, 09:05 PM

haha no I wont.

ON the topic of pictures.. for my trip I needed to buy a digital camera. Suncity which would be an approriate place to ask purchasing suggestions? (since we have some great photographers visiting this forum)

Depends on where you are right now, what is your budget and what you like.
I always try to go for cheap stuff because the technology is improving so fast it doesn't make sense to invest too much on such things. A lot of the cameras come with so many features but how much do we really need them

RafflesCity

October 26th, 2004, 09:20 PM

are these the tallest u/c in India now?

I quite like them! They look similar to Lippo Plaza in Shanghai & All Seasons Place in Bangkok.

Suraj

October 26th, 2004, 09:35 PM

http://www.dpreview.com
http://www.imaging-resource.com
http://www.epinions.com

Canon Powershot series is pretty good. So is Sony, which I have. Go for a 4MP or higher res camera if you can, 3MP at least. Also look for ease of uploading onto computer. Fat lot of good it will do us picture starved people if you have photos on camera but 'will take time to upload' :)

drwho

October 26th, 2004, 10:59 PM

are these the tallest u/c in India now?

I quite like them! They look similar to Lippo Plaza in Shanghai & All Seasons Place in Bangkok.

hey raffieraffie:):)

yes they are u/c now according to Emporis but no pictures from the u/c-site yet.

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=140605

:)

Suncity

October 26th, 2004, 11:41 PM

hey raffieraffie:):)

yes they are u/c now according to Emporis but no pictures from the u/c-site yet.

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=140605

:)

Ksahtriya had posted a picture of the construction site.

I found a miniature one of that same pic.

http://www.mid-day.com/ArticleImages/images16/twintowers.jpg

According to S D Corp: Two towers are coming up with a three-level lobby, nine levels of parking and 49 living floors. The total is 60 floors. The first tower is to be finished by the end of 2005.

Tower 1 construction has reached the 17th floor. We have reached the 10th level in Tower II. A third tower will also be constructed, the company states.

This was as of July 21, 2004.

http://www.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/july/88207.htm

RafflesCity

October 26th, 2004, 11:43 PM

thanks drwho for the link and thanks Suncity for the pic, although its a bit small to see the details.

Pls keep updated on this building cos it looks really cool!

nithin

October 27th, 2004, 12:09 AM

PM keen on making Mumbai a Shanghai

Our Economy Bureau
Posted online: Monday, October 18, 2004 at 0944 hours IST
Updated: Monday, October 18, 2004 at 1627 hours IST

New Delhi, October 18: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who promised to turn Mumbai into a global metropolis like Shanghai during election campaign in Maharashtra, has sought practical ideas for implementing the proposal.

The Prime minister on Saturday chaired a two-hour long meeting of senior officials of his office, Union ministry of urban development and the Planning Commission to discuss details of the proposed National Mission on Urban Renewal.

He instructed the urban development ministry and the Planning Commission to come up with specific ideas and proposals in this regard. Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia also participated in the meeting.

Mr Singh also suggested that apart from all metros, at least one big city and one medium-sized town per state should be identified by the urban development ministry for a programme of infrastructure renewal.

He directed the Planning Commission to work out a funding plan that would draw on public and private funds for specific infrastructure and urban development projects, an official release said.

The urban renewal mission would focus on slum development, facilities for the urban poor, construction of roads and footpaths, development of urban facilities including sanitation, drinking water and power supply, public transport, parks and public spaces, legal reform, new construction projects and environment management, it added.

Suncity

October 27th, 2004, 12:49 AM

^^^

Oh no! Not again!

Nithin keep your fingers crossed. We will soon have two fellow forumers out here fighting over Mumbai Shanghai.

;-)

Nightsky

October 27th, 2004, 07:52 PM

Glad to hear it is already u/c!

kshatriya

October 29th, 2004, 08:44 AM

Bandra Worli Sealink progress -

View of completed piers -

http://www.bandraworlisealink.com/images/261004-3.JPG

Erecting the bridge -

http://www.bandraworlisealink.com/images/261004-5.JPG

http://www.bandraworlisealink.com/images/261004-1.JPG

http://www.bandraworlisealink.com/images/SEP04-02.jpg

Laying the approach roads, ramps etc. -

http://www.bandraworlisealink.com/images/261004-4.JPG

Wow now it's really looking like it will be finished by 2006, finally....

kshatriya

October 29th, 2004, 08:50 AM

Thane-Vashi trial succesful (http://web.mid-day.com/metro/vashi/2004/october/95358.htm)

indian

October 29th, 2004, 03:24 PM

Wasn't Bandra Worli Sea Link stalled???

kshatriya

October 29th, 2004, 05:11 PM

Wasn't Bandra Worli Sea Link stalled???
It was.....has resumed now. The Worli-Nariman part is still in cold storage though.

Hindustani

October 29th, 2004, 09:53 PM

Kshatriya....................Worli Bandra sealink is coming up nicely.

http://www.expresshealthcaremgmt.com/20020715/ehm2002071514.jpg

Mumbai’s first cardiac centre to open soon
Soumya Viswanathan - Mumbai

Mumbai’s first super-speciality cardiac hospital may throw open its doors to patients by mid-August. The hospital work began 13 months ago and is almost ready. This will also be the first hospital in Mumbai to be owned and managed by doctors.

And Dr Ramakant Panda, president and CEO of Rs 100 crore Asian Heart Institute and Research Centre (AHIRC) is the first to bring this concept to Mumbai. Speaking of success stories like Escorts and B M Birla, he says, “Hospitals promoted by doctors became popular in Europe in 1995-96 and now we can see such hospitals are successful because doctors can understand the concept of healthcare delivery.” Being a clinician does not raise second thoughts when it comes to running his centre profitably. A clinician can learn administration but an administrator can never become a doctor, he says. “Anyway, I am not going to sit and run the show everyday,” he smiles.

According to Dr Panda, AHIRC conforms to global standards. Some of the unique features, he says, are the design of the ICU which is 16’ X 12’, has been designed as per international standards with provision for day light into the room and OT which is structured in a seamless fashion so that there are no joints.

The hospital has invested over Rs 2 crore in IT, almost 50 per cent more than what is generally invested, says Tara Mahapatra, one of the promoters. “IT is our USP,” he adds. The Centre has installed HIMS from Siemens. The Centre is integrating its strength in IT to facilitate service for patients and relatives. The counters at the hospital will be multi-purpose, with different information available at one singlecounter. Information and internet kiosks will be installed in the waiting areas so that the relatives can spend time meaningfully, says Mahapatra.

The promoters are also exploring the possiblity of tying up with several primary care centres in the suburbs. “The IT infrastructure will help to serve these centres,” Mahapatra puts. The hospital also has an association with Cleveland Clinic, USA. So far Cleveland has helped with hospital design, training and implementation of systems. Says Dr Panda, “This will bring about a difference in management, quality of patient care, audit system etc.” AHIRC will also have regular CME programs, structured with the help of Cleveland. Apart from protocols set by Cleveland, Dr Panda also has his own standards in terms of patient satisfaction like counselling room for relatives.

The hospital would also have a day care centre with 12 beds and 6 beds for cardiac and non-cardiac patients respectively. Minor non-cardiac surgery would be available for the people who have opted for executive health check up. AHIRC will also begin telemedicine services in association with Cleveland clinic for all areas of medicine from day one. The hospital would also have a department to perform medical audit. A committee would evaluate the cases based on the Cleveland model and its recommendation will be incumbent upon all the doctors.

Speaking on cardiac hospitals eventually expanding to include other specialties, Dr Panda, says, “You must plan properly. Start as a medium size centre and grow later. We are starting with 130 beds. My wish is to ultimately have 250 beds.” Dr Panda’s planning started with analysing the study done on viability of cardiac services. A study conducted by an MNC in 1996 predicted an 18 per cent growth in cardiac diseases till 2010 and so far, it has been true.

Experts predict that the break-even would take two years and a return on investment of 15 per cent by fourth year.

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