Mumbai: Brace for traffic chaos in south Mumbai in the coming festive season. When BMC resumes its ambitious road concretisation project next month with the monsoon’s departure, 776 new roads will be built across the city, nearly half of which will fall in the area, indicates the civic body’s newly launched dashboard to track the works’ progress.So far, 771 of the 2,121 cement concrete (CC) roads planned have been completed, BMC has said. In all, 360 roads are planned to be completely rebuilt in south Mumbai, including Cooperage Road, Geeta Nagar approach road and Capt Prakash Pethe Road in Cuffe Parade, Marine Lines First Cross Lane, VN Road (from Kilachand Chowk to Hutatma Chowk), and Free Press Journal Marg. Work in the area has been delayed since 2024 when BMC scrapped a Rs 1,687-crore contract after the contractor failed to begin construction even 10 months after receiving orders. BMC has made it clear that its priority is going to be the 574 partially completed road works. Additional municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar said, “We are mindful that setting start and end dates for road concretisation projects puts added pressure on us to meet deadlines. However, our team is committed to ensuring the work progresses smoothly while minimising inconvenience to motorists.”Each suburban zone has around 200 new road works, many of which will begin simultaneously. The work order for all road concretisation work, including those in south Mumbai, was issued in Jan 2023 after inauguration by PM Narendra Modi. The project has to be completed by May 2027 and authorities have said work is progressing as scheduled.
