Mumbai: While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Western Railway (WR) haggle over who will construct the new Delisle Road rail overbridge (ROB) in Lower Parel, the WR has said the corporation still owes it ₹27 crore towards repair and reconstruction of 10 structures in the Mumbai suburban section, and it cannot move ahead without receiving the money.
Ravinder Bhakar, chief public relations officer, WR, said, “We had recently written to the BMC asking them to deposit the money taking into consideration the urgency of repairs of various structures.”
In a letter to the BMC on July 26, the WR said tenders for the 10 works have been invited and will be opened in the next two to three weeks. A delay in funds will lead to a delay in the commencement of works, it said. “If they are minor projects, we can do it at our own expense and ask the BMC to reimburse them. However, for larger projects, we need the funds before awarding a contract,” a senior official said.
The payments include reconstruction of the pedestrian section of Gokhale Bridge as well as strengthening its girders and the pipeline bridge next to it. A few weeks ago, part of a pipeline across the tracks was found dangling dangerously over the tracks, and WR had to block services to remove it.
WR had sent an estimate of ₹78.30 lakh for repairs and strengthening of Gokhale bridge in November 2017, and have written three more letters since. Gokhale Bridge has been partially closed to traffic since the pedestrian pathway collapsed, killing two and injuring three on July 3. WR officials said they will only be able to open the bridge completely once the new pathway is completed.
The BMC has asked WR to rebuild the Lower Parel ROB, for which the BMC will bear the expenses. However, railway officials are wary of this proposal for various reasons.
“We have to constantly haggle with them for payments, due to which projects are stalled. If this is the case with minor payments, one can imagine what the case would be while building this ROB,” a senior railway official said.
Railway officials said the cost of construction for the bridge would easily be in the range of ₹80 crore to ₹100 crore. WR will float tenders for dismantling the Lower Parel ROB on August 2. Despite repeated attempts, BMC Commissioner Ajoy Mehta was unavailable for comment.