27 September,2016 08:28 AM IST | | Ranjeet Jadhav
A 13-km stretch will be widened with concrete roads, which will have electronic sensors that will activate lights to guide motorists
The final date of submission of bids is October 21 and the company that will bag the project will be given 30 months time to finish it. Seen here is the Bhiwandi-Kalyan Shil Phata toll plaza. File pic
With Kalyan, Bhiwandi and Dombivli set to become smart cities in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the process to have better road connectivity in and around these locations has also started - the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will be spending over Rs 77 crore for widening and construction of a road from Shil Phata Junction to Kalyan Phata Junction.
More than two weeks ago, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that his US visit was to sign an agreement with software giant Oracle for making Kalyan, Bhiwandi and Dombivli smart cities.
Laying the groundwork
"MMRDA's vision has always been to do development in the MMR and provide better facilities to people... we have invited tenders for the widening and construction of a road from Shil Phata Junction to Kalyan Phata Junction. This will definitely solve commuting woes," said MMRDA Joint Project Director Dilip Kawatkar.
At present, due to bad roads, motorists going to and from Shil Phata to Kalyan have to face a lot of problems, including traffic jams during morning and evening peak hours. In order to solve this problem, the repairing and widening of the road has been taken up. The tenders for the project that were invited state that the final date of submission of bids is October 21.
The scope of the work, which is part of the project cost, includes widening and laying a cement concrete road that is around 13-km long.
At present, the stretch has uneven patches, with monsoon compounding the problem with an increase in the number of potholes.
Smart moves
The company that will bag the contract will have to complete the project in 30 months, including the monsoon. This road will also have electronic sensors, while the bitumen stretches on either side will have electronic sensor pavers.
These will activate the lights, which too will be installed in the road to guide motorists navigate sharp turns.The MMRDA is also planning growth centres around Kalyan, and as part of this, 27 villages surrounding Kalyan and Ambernath taluka will see mega development in the coming years. A private consultant has been appointed, who will be preparing a Detailed Project Report for the same.
The growth centres would come up in over 1,000 hectares; MMRDA plans to acquire 330 hectares of these, a majority of the land is privately-owned, but is lying vacant.
The authority has made it clear that the owners of the land would be made stakeholders in the project and all the people would be taken into confidence before arriving at any decision, so that there is no opposition to the project and problems do not arise during land acquisition. As per the Town Planning Act of 1973, the regional plan of the MMR had also stated how the area can become a successful place for growth centres.
Future planning
The growth centres will be connected through Metro as well as highways and better roads. Every office building in the business hubs will have to have shops and hotels, which will have permission to operate 24x7, so that those working in these hubs can go at these places. There will also be other features in these places, such as smart parking, Wi-Fi connectivity, and smart streetlights, similar to what's been planned in BKC.
