[image: Bandra To Worli in 8 Mins]
*Bandra-Worli Sea Link, which has been under construction for 10 years, *
*opens tomorrow. The distance of 8 kms will now be covered in 6-8 mins, as
against 60-90 mins earlier*
**
MUMBAI: After years of delays and legal wrangling, India's first "sea
bridge" opens to traffic this week, aiming to ease chronic congestion
on [image:
Bandra-Worli sea
link]<javascript:openslideshownew('/slideshow/4717161.cms?imw=460','541')>
<javascript:openslideshownew('/slideshow/4717161.cms?imw=460','541')>
The Bandra-Worli sea link dazzles during light and laser pyrotechnics show
in Mumbai. (TOI Photo)
<javascript:openslideshownew('/slideshow/4717161.cms?imw=460','541')>
Mumbai's notoriously choked roads.
It is hoped that the 16.5-billion-rupee (340-million-dollar) eight-lane
freeway will help cut the 40-minute journey between the suburbs of Bandra
and Worli to just eight minutes.
But as the bridge opens on Tuesday, to ease the bottleneck of honking cars,
lorries and motorbikes on the mainland, there are hopes, too, that as well
as showing off India's engineering prowess, it can inspire other projects
elsewhere.
"Undoubtedly the Bandra-Worli Sea Link is an engineering marvel which shows
that Indian construction players have come of age, and are capable of
matching global counterparts," said Hitesh Agrawal, head of research with
Angel Broking.
"However, the government needs to look into critical issues to ensure
infrastructure projects are not delayed," he said.
India's infrastructure is in desperate need of an overhaul but road, rail,
airport and power schemes have often been delayed by tortuous state
bureaucracy, a lack of private sector funding and land ownership disputes.
The sweeping, 5.6-kilometre (3.5-mile) Bandra-Worli Sea Link was first
commissioned in 2000 but work was held up until 2004 because of litigation
and protests from the local fishing community.
Like many of India's cities, upgrading Mumbai's road system is a must.
Currently, about 125,000 vehicles criss-cross Mumbai north to south in each
direction every day, according to the bridge's builders, the Hindustan
Construction Company Limited.
As private car ownership increases on the back of India's economic boom and
more people move to cities, 250 more vehicles are expected to drive the
route every day, it added.
The city's suburban rail network is also under pressure from a population of
18 million that is growing by the year.
Further phases of the bridge are planned, eventually stretching to the
commercial business district in the city's southern tip.
Construction of the first phase of a much-needed suburban metro system is
also under way.
India's
economy<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Bandra-Worli-sea-link-opens-Tuesday/articleshow/4717112.cms#>grew
by 6.7 percent in 2008-09, down from nine percent a year earlier, hit
by the effects of the global economic downturn. GDP could be between 6.0
percent and 6.3 percent in 2010, according to analysts.
Policy makers have identified infrastructure projects as key to helping the
economy bounce back to the near double-digit growth of recent years.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) estimates that more than 500 billion dollars'
worth of
investment<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Bandra-Worli-sea-link-opens-Tuesday/articleshow/4717112.cms#>will
flow towards India's infrastructure sector by 2012, to upgrade or
build
more roads, ports, railway lines and airports.
"Funding this is likely to go beyond the means of total government
spending," Ravi Bhamidipathi, PwC's head of engineering and construction in
India, said in a recent report.
PwC identified public-private partnerships (PPPs) involving domestic and
foreign
investors<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Bandra-Worli-sea-link-opens-Tuesday/articleshow/4717112.cms#>as
one possible way of funding the shortfall.
Unlike in China, where new infrastructure projects have taken off in recent
years, the pace of change in India has been slow.
In the past four years cash has been awarded for 11,502 kilometres of new
roads. But only 4,575 kilometres have been completed in the past two years,
according to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
As of March, nearly 16,000 kilometres of new road projects were waiting for
funding. More than 200 national road projects -- equivalent to 13,000
kilometres -- are out to tender.
Elsewhere, about 10 billion dollars' worth of
investment<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Bandra-Worli-sea-link-opens-Tuesday/articleshow/4717112.cms#>in
new or existing airports has been proposed to cater for an increase in
air traffic and rising tourism.
India's new road transport and highways minister Kamal Nath is aware of the
problem and wants to speed up funding awards.
"The greater the outlay on construction of roads, the greater the impetus to
the economy," he has said.
But analysts say funding is not the only hurdle that needs to be overcome.
"The government needs to give attention to issues like land
acquisition<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Bandra-Worli-sea-link-opens-Tuesday/articleshow/4717112.cms#>issues,
a major reason for delay in many projects," said Angel Broking's
Agrawal.
Despite the problems, analysts remain optimistic that the infrastructure
projects will get off the ground.
"The opportunities to develop a significant business in India are extremely
promising for construction firms if they have carefully selected local
partners and structured contracts sensibly to maximise tax
benefits<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Bandra-Worli-sea-link-opens-Tuesday/articleshow/4717112.cms#>,"
PwC's Bhamidipathi said.
--
regards
*ನರೇನ್ ಬಾಳಿಗಾ*
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