Corporates roped in by MMRDA for Mumbai's facelift

Under a new initiative for city's facelift, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has invited corporates in the city to participate in a city beautification drive.

The civic body has invited expressions of interest for the beautification and subsequent maintenance of footpaths and medians along 17 major roads in the city.

These include the Eastern and Western Express Highways, Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road, LBS Road, Linking Road, Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Linking Road and S V Road. Nearly 150 km of road length will be beautified under the project.

Under the World Bank-sponsored Mumbai Urban Improvement Project and Mumbai Urban Transport Project, the MMRDA has been widening roads and building footpaths along the major arterial roads in the city. The new initiative is aimed at the beautification and maintenance of these roads.

"The participating corporates would not only be responsible for creating green patches on rotaries, traffic islands and medians, but also keep the area free from encroachments," said S C Deshpande, joint project director, (Town Planning), MMRDA.

The project also involves avenue plantations, and putting up and maintenance of street furniture such as benches and railings along the arterial roads. This is to prevent pedestrians straying on the roads. The contracts will be given for five years.

Clearing encroachments and maintaining them as such has been the biggest challenge for project managers in the city.

Among the corporates expressing interest in the project are -ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, National Stock Exchange, Small Industries Development Bank of India, Asian Heart Institute, L&T and Mahanagar Gas. This is in addition to developers such as Akruti, Rahejas, Naman, Runwal, Ajmeras, Nirmal Lifestyle, Dewan Housing Finance and Maker.

So far the corporates, mainly developers, have created and maintained green patches in their own development areas.