Coastal road The work of Coastal Road, which has been going on for the last 10 years, is finally 40 per cent complete.
By 2024, this route will be started for the service of Mumbaikars. But even before this route is completed, it has found itself in controversy.
The CAG has taken the mumbai Municipal Corporation to task as the cost of this route has gone up by 405 per cent.
The CAG has asked the corporation why the cost of the project has gone up so much. The cost of the project was Rs 252 crore in 2011. The cost of the project in 2018 is estimated at Rs 1274 crore.
The CAG has also questioned the Rs 200 crore spent in an inspection report between 2016 and 2020.
The Coastal Road project was launched in 2010 to reduce traffic congestion in Mumbai. Accordingly, a 35 km long coastal road was to be constructed between Nariman Point in South mumbai and Kandivali in the mumbai suburb. But not a single brick of this project was laid for 8 years.
Finally, in 2018, the mumbai Municipal Corporation started the first phase of the project near Marine Drive and Princess Street flyover near Worli.
The cost of the project, which started in 2018, had increased significantly. The audit department investigated the cost of this work from 2016 to 2020 and questioned the mumbai Municipal Corporation.
The cost per km of this coastal road in 2011 was Rs 252 crore. In 2016, the cost was Rs 304 crore, in 2018 it was Rs 686 crore and finally, it was Rs 1274 crore per km, the CAG said in its report.
The mumbai Municipal Corporation has given an explanation in this case and the CAG is studying it.
A total of Rs 200 crore has been spent on final payments, non-recovery of fines, non-receipt of interest, additional payments to contractors and consultants. The CAG has also questioned this.
The contractors were paid Rs 142 crore between July 2019 and december 2019, despite a ban by the mumbai High Court. The CAG has also questioned the mumbai Municipal Corporation in this regard.
