Mumbai’s longest flyover, the much-awaited 13.59-km Eastern Freeway was thrown open to the public, paving way for CST to Chembur commute to be reduced to a 25-minute ride. While inaugurating the toll-free freeway, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan called it a “pathway to infrastructural growth of the state of Maharashtra”.
The chief minister further underlined the need for a “total development” of the city and said, “Projects such as metro and monorail, Sahar elevated road, Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link Road are the key to making Mumbai a world-class city and the state government is striving hard to achieve the goal.”
Even as the deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar slammed projects like skywalks, terming them to be useless, he promised to render special attention to infrastructure projects.
He said, “As the finance minister of the state, I promise to back all the projects already undertaken and those that will be undertaken in the future for the development of the city and the state.”
Meanwhile, MMRDA metropolitan commissioner, U.P.S. Madan said, “This freeway symbolises fructification of dedicated efforts of more than 2,000 workers and about a hundred engineers right from the contractors, project management consultants to MMRDA.”