Electrical Infrastructure Stalls Ghodbunder Road Progress

Although the widening of the Ghodbunder Road has reached its final stages, electric poles and transformers located in the middle of the road have become major obstacles. The scale of the work suggest that citizens have to wait till the end of the monsoon for the completion of the project.

The plan was to transform the road into a six-lane highway, with the existing service roads merged into the main highway. Approximately, 80% of the work is complete, and the remaining work is progressing rapidly. However, electric wires, iron poles, and transformers are currently standing in the path of the new lanes. The Maharashtra State Electricity Board has surveyed these obstructions and submitted an estimated cost for their removal to TMC. Ashish Gupta, an engineer from the Board, stated that the work should begin soon to take these obstructions down.

Former Deputy Mayor Naresh Mhaske, criticised the lack of planning saying that crores of rupees from TMC funds built the electric poles and now, the corporation will have to bear the cost of taking them down. This is a waste of public money due to lack of proper planning in the road widening project.