A tunnel can save Queen’s Necklace

MUMBAI: A tunnel linking the posh Malabar Hill with Chowpatty here is being proposed instead of a sealink to preserve the visual beauty of the Queen’s Necklace in Marine Drive, this city’s well-known sea-front.

“We have asked IIT to study whether the tunnel is feasible,” Maharashtra special projects secretary Sanjay G Ubale said.
According to the plan, the Worli-Nariman point sealink would connect to Marine Drive, destroying the beauty for which it is known, he said.

“It is in this context that the possibility of the tunnel is being explored. “Building a bridge would mean that you cannot remove the structure for 100 years and the beauty of Marine Drive would be gone,” Mr Ubale said.

The government has planned sealinks to decongest traffic on roads and to provide alternative connections between Mumbai and its suburbs. In the first phase, Bandra and Worli would be linked by April 2008 at an estimated cost of Rs 1,300 crore.

The second phase would see the linking of Worli and Nariman Point at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore, while the Rs 6,000-crore Nhava Sheva-Sewri sealink would be taken up in the third phase. The government said the ‘concept’ for the Worli-Nariman Point sealink is ready and five consortiums have bid for it.

But with the city’s population going down marginally according to official data, the state government wants to have a relook before proceeding with this sealink.

The government is projecting the Bandra-Worli sealink as the city’s second landmark after the Gateway of India. The sealink will ease traffic at Mahim causeway and considerably reduce the travel time from the western suburbs to central Mumbai.