Goregaon-Mulund Link Road Sees Progress
The Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) proposal has moved one step further, with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) floating the request for proposals for technical feasibility study. The execution of the proposed road is expected to improve the connectivity between east and west Mumbai by providing the link between the Eastern and the Western Express Highways.
The Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR)
The Goregaon-Mulund Link Road is an ambitious project conceived by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). This is also a road being proposed by the BMC as part of their development plan. The stretch is roughly 10 km long. It will start at Goregaon in the western suburbs, run through parts of Sanjay Gandhi National Park and ends in Mulund in the eastern suburbs. The MMRDA has already built a road connecting the Western Express Highway (WEH) in Goregaon and the Film City, known as GMLR extension.
The road has been proposed as an alternative to the Ghodbunder Road and the narrow road of Aarey Milk Colony, which people use to commute between Goregaon and Borivali in the west, and Mulund in the east. It is also a middle path between the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR) and the stretch connecting Aarey Colony to Mulund, Powai and Vikhroli. Interestingly, there has also been a proposal for a monorail on the alignment of GMLR.
Feasibility study
The BMC will appoint a firm to carry out the technical feasible study for the link road. The firm will also have to carry out a geo-technical survey in order to check the soil type on which the road alignment has been marked. Certain stretches of the road will have to be built on stone columns as these areas have marshy land.
Possible hurdles
There are some possible hurdles the GMLR may face. Firstly, the road passes through many privately-owned plots. Hence, a detailed report has to be prepared for the costs involved in land acquisition. Secondly, the road also passes through the Rajiv Gandhi National Park. Hence, it will require clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for cutting down trees. This is an important hurdle; the road will have to go through. The road does not fall under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and hence, this may not pose a major hurdle.
