Will city be the next El Dorado?

Yesterday, on this page, Mumbaikars vented their ire at the Mumbai civic corporation’s budget which prioritised employees’ salaries over development works. However, Thane civic officials say infrastructural development in the city will go on as scheduled, since they have successfully achieved their octroi targets even during the recession period.

But not everything is so bleak, with change taking place slowly. Sometime in the future, the chief executive of a multi-national firm realises that he has merely 25 minutes to reach a power meeting at Nariman Point from his pad at Bandra. He doesn’t panic and tell his driver to drive his Mercedes like a Grand Prix racer on the Bandra-Worli sea link, he simply flies in his chopper. This may not be a far-fetched scenario, with the civic corporation planning to have helipads at select locations in the city.

This is perhaps the only way to see Mumbai. Buzzing low over the sunburnt slums, depots and regal Victorian monuments of India’s city of commerce. It is exhilarating. Moreover, only by helicopter can one traverse clogged motorways and get from the western suburbs to downtown Mumbai — a distance of around 20km — in under two hours!

Great plans are in place to resuscitate South Asia’s biggest city — which is like the El Dorado (city of gold) for the rest of India. By 2015, the UN says it will be the world’s second-biggest after Tokyo, with nearly 25 million people. The bad news is that it is choking; the good news is that the government is slowly changing the face of aamchi Mumbai during this year.

The first phase of Metro between Versova and Ghatkopar will be ready by the year-end. Monorail between Jacob Circle and Chembur will be ready soon. A sixty-storied twin complex will tower over Tardeo. Lower middle class enclaves of Central Mumbai like Parel, Mahalakshmi and Prabhadevi will be dotted with high-end Hong Kong-like sky scrappers.

Vehicles will cruise through both sides of Bandra-Worli sea link, which will soon be operational. Second phase of the sea link between Versova and Bandra will also commence by the year end.  Business executives, who usually shun public transport, will proudly sit in nearly three thousand new eco-friendly air-conditioned buses. New rakes on all railway networks will provide a breezy feeling to commuters, who are used to travelling like sardines.

It won’t be a bumpy ride for motorists anymore, they will be able to glide in style over the Santa Cruz - Chembur link. The agency claims that the completion of the project will decongest the worsening traffic situation in the suburbs and reduce travel time between the eastern and western sectors from 2 hours to 20 minutes. The last phase of Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road is slated to be completed before monsoon. Similarly flyovers over the Milan Subway, elevated road between Western Express Highway and Sahar Airport will also be operational.

But there is a problem. To redevelop Mumbai involves moving people. And since in India third-world conditions are enmeshed with first-world rights, this causes blockages. But those are slowly beginning to ease. Hutments around the periphery of Santa Cruz and Sahar airport will also be relocated, providing much needed additional space for airport expansion. With hundreds of housing redevelopment projects underway it is bound to reduce the shabby look of the city -  soon Shanghai may look and envy aamchi Mumbai, let’s pray for that miracle.