MUMBAI: The internet is replete with time-lapse videos of bridges and railroads from foreign countries, most marvelling at the swift speed of construction. Mumbai unfortunately qualifies only for slow motion reels, say citizens groups.

In the economic capital of India, frequent delays in completing infrastructure projects is the norm rather than the exception, leading to continued hurdles in commuting not to mention multiple cost escalation, say experts. “Deadlines are set, inauguration dates allotted, but almost never met. Be it the coastal road or the Metro Rail projects or the missing Mumbai-Pune Expressway link, govt agencies tasked with completing these projects have always extended the dates under one pretext or another.

Accountability is absent, given that officials retire or get transferred during the long-drawn wait,” said one.

Not all delays are unforeseen. A former municipal commissioner said deadlines for projects had become highly politicised. “Mega infra projects were always pitched for political gain. But in the past, deadlines were not allotted with election timelines to such a great extent. Now projects are being inaugurated in time for polls even though they are not complete. There have been instances where projects are shut down after being opened because they are not complete, or only opened partially like the coastal road. This is a wrong trend and takes a toll on projects’ engineering and finish too. There is also the case of officials over-pitching the capacity of their agencies and contractors in a bid to please political bosses,” he said.

Mumbai Mirror highlights a handful of large projects which have missed their deadlines. Activists, experts and stakeholders voice their concern and their defence.

The 10.6km Mumbai Coastal Road project, which spans Princess Street in Marine Drive to the Worli end of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, includes twin tunnels running below Girgaum Chowpatty.

The project was commissioned in Nov 2018 with an estimated cost of Rs 13,983 crore, and was scheduled to be operational by the end of 2022. The project faced several challenges that led to delays and cost overruns though. The initial estimate was Rs 12,721 crore which increased due to design changes made to accommodate the concerns raised by the local fishing community.

The Covid-related lockdown caused a delay of nearly one year, and the timeline was further impacted by subsequent litigation with environmentalists who were opposing the reclamation and loss of green cover by the proposed erasing of the iconic Tata Gardens along Breach Candy.

In April 2019, three public interest litigations were filed against the project. Bombay High Court issued a written order to stop reclamation till further notice. In Dec 2019, staying the order, the Supreme Court allowed resumption of work.

Currently, the coastal road is operational from Marine Drive to Haji Ali in case of the northbound carriageway and Worli to Marine Drive in case of southbound. The full commissioning is now deferred to Oct 2024.

The partial opening of the road has caused traffic congestion in areas like Breach Candy, as vehicles heading further are seen to exit in these areas, said Nandini Chabria of Breach Candy Residents Forum. “Last mile connectivity issues could have been avoided if the entire road had been commissioned at one go,” she said.

Atul Kumar, president of the Nariman Point Churchgate Citizens Welfare Trust (NPCCWT), said delays result in cost overrun. “Lack of accountability allows for these delays to occur without strict consequences. The currently operational portions of the coastal road indicate that the exits are not well-planned, and commuters may not save as much time as expected. We hope these issues will be resolved once the entire road becomes operational,” he said.

Several MMRDA projects are behind schedule due to delay in land acquisition or contractor inefficiency. An example is the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) extension whose work order was issued in 2016 with a target completion date of 2019. Originally estimated at Rs 450 crore, the cost has now increased to Rs 650 crore.

The Metro 3 (Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ) corridor has also missed multiple deadlines. Phase I (BKC-Aarey) was supposed to open in May, but one of the contractors has been held responsible for the delay. This phase is now expected to open by Sept.

The 16km Metro 6 line, which will run along Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road and connect Vikhroli to Lokhandwala Complex, Andheri, after criss-crossing above the Central and Western Railway tracks, was originally scheduled to open by 2022. The revised deadline is 2026.

Several projects, including Metro 4 (Wadala-Thane-Kasarvadavali) and Metro 9 (Dahisar-Bhayander), have been delayed due to unavailability of land for maintenance depots. These hurdles have now been cleared for all Metro corridors, and it is expected that some of these lines will open within three years.

The fifth and sixth railway lines between Parel and Kurla are late by three years as land has not been acquired. WR’s work on extending the sixth line up to Borivli was also held up due to land acquisition. Phase I was opened between Khar and Goregaon in Nov 2023 and the next phase up to Kandivli may open by Aug.

The Mumbai-Pune Expressway augmentation too is delayed by a year, and may start in June 2025. The magically quicker ride through Lonavala will reduce congestion, fuel and pollution but increase the toll period.

The crucial cable-stayed bridge across Tiger Valley, being built as part of the Rs 6,695 crore missing link project along Lonavala Ghat section, is delayed. Instead of its July 2024 deadline that ends this month, the bridge section may be completed by June next year to offer motorists a half-hour reduction in travel time, said senior MSRDC officials. The two-tunnel sections and another bridge–components of the entire project–are 98% complete.

“Constructing a cable-stayed bridge with four 182m-tall pylons (equal to 60-storey buildings each) against severe wind pressure in the valley is a challenge. Other than that, we have faced delays due to Covid, monsoon wind and visibility. Also, getting skilled workers to reach such a height and install cables and slabs is a difficult task,” said officials.

The cabling will create a 1,000-foot slab in the middle of the 650-metre bridge to connect Tiger Valley.

India’s first Expressway, after its inauguration two decades ago, will become more seamless for motorists travelling between Mumbai and Pune once the missing link, which will make the Expressway bypass the winding and dangerous Ghat section, gets completed next year. Eighty-five per cent of the Expressway’s current traffic is projected to use the new route.

The Rs 6,695 crore project, undertaken by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), includes the world’s widest twin tunnels as endorsed by the Guinness Book of Records.

The daylighting process for the tunnels was completed early last year. The remaining task involved bridging the 650m gap between them with the country’s tallest cable-stayed road link in Tiger Valley. The construction of pylons, with an average height of 132m, and a maximum height of 182 m, and connecting pillars for the bridge is a challenge, said an official.

The missing link project aims to bypass the Khandala Ghat section, reducing the distance between Mumbai and Pune by 6km and travel time by 30 minutes. Although the toll charge will not rise, motorists will have to pay for 15 years beyond the scheduled time of 2030.

When other planned or under-construction augmentation projects are added to the missing link project, travel time between Mumbai and Pune will cumulatively reduce by 60 minutes. The Shedung-Palaspe link, three flyovers between Palaspe and Chirle and the Sewri-Worli connector are crucial.

Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaikh said the current govt had turned all projects into election campaign material. “There is no problem if you use projects and infrastructure for campaigns, but at least they should be complete to be showcased. The quality of infrastructure has gone down drastically in the hurry to complete them. Also, in the current regime, one project is inaugurated 4-5 times in multiple phases. This has turned project openings into a joke. Take the coastal road, we don’t know how many phases will be inaugurated till the entire road is actually complete. Every single project has missed deadlines because of politicization,” Shaikh said.