Recently, the BMC had written to the state government and sought to waive off the conditions for compensatory afforestation.
The tender for Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR), a project much delayed due to various reasons, is likely to be floated after the upcoming Lok Sabha election. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has already received the National Board for Wildlife's (NBW) nod, and is now awaiting its final approval from a regional expert committee of the state forest department.
Vijay Singhal, additional municipal commissioner (eastern suburbs), BMC, said that the approval from the forest department, with regard to afforestation, is pending but we expect to get it soon. "If all goes well, the tender for the ambitious project is likely to be floated after polls," Singhal said.
Recently, the BMC had written to the state government and sought to waive off the conditions for compensatory afforestation. "We had written to the state government saying that no tree should be cut inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) as a tunnel will be constructed underneath," Singhal said. He further said that their request was accepted by the state government. However, it was sent to a regional expert committee for approval.
According to the plan, the GMLR will be connecting Film City, Goregaon, and Mulund. It will be a 12.7 km-long six-lane road of which 4.7 km will be a twin tunnel road with 3+3 lanes running underneath the SGNP. It was first proposed in the 1960s as an east-west connector. However, the project got delayed due to various pending permissions. In its budget 2019-20, the civic body has made an allocation of Rs 100 crore for the GMLR.
After its construction, the GMLR will be the fourth east-west connecting link road after Santacruz-Chembur Link Road, Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road, and Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road. The GMLR is believed to ease traffic on the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road, which faces severe congestion during peak hours. In addition, it is also claimed that the GMLR will ease congestion on the Ghodbunder Road in Thane.
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