The Bandra Worli Sealink (BWSL) has been “named”. Frankly I feel, no one gives a damn about it now or will do so. In everyday language the bridge will be called ‘Sea Link', as in "Chalo, Sealink se jaate hain" or "Sealink pe traffic hai".
It looks neat but it is not an engineering marvel as is being touted. Cable stayed bridges have been in existence for some time and bridges longer than the BWSL have been constructed in half the time elsewhere in the world, whether over inland rivers or the sea. Cable stay bridges by Calatrava and his ilk have become icons of form and balance. The exit junction at Worli is a nightmare. A 2nd Yr Architecture student or someone who drives a vehicle would have planned a better exit.
The escalation of costs with issues of alignment change and design change only further highlight the personal coffers and bank accounts that have benefited from the project. How can a design of such magnitude have bad base studies related to alignments, lanuses tides etc? It is said in the media that the original design consultants “walked off/were replaced’. Perhaps they did not subscribe to being party towards enabling bribes and wanted to get done with the project in the originally allocated time. Given the technology, skill and intelligence available at hand, this project would have been over in 3 years. The extra years were to only ensure that everyone who wanted a cut, got it.
Like lakhs of Mumbaikars, I have made a small contribution to the BWSL by paying my taxes and yet I will be charged a toll to use it. The money spent on this could have easily re-vamped our railways and bus systems- the public transport used by a majority of people in the city.
I feel cheated, just like my tax-paying middle class brethren.
It’s time we woke up and smelled the coffee…and stopped paying Taxes. Instead we should just pay tolls/ user fees for every government service /infrastructure that comes our way.
It looks neat but it is not an engineering marvel as is being touted. Cable stayed bridges have been in existence for some time and bridges longer than the BWSL have been constructed in half the time elsewhere in the world, whether over inland rivers or the sea. Cable stay bridges by Calatrava and his ilk have become icons of form and balance. The exit junction at Worli is a nightmare. A 2nd Yr Architecture student or someone who drives a vehicle would have planned a better exit.
The escalation of costs with issues of alignment change and design change only further highlight the personal coffers and bank accounts that have benefited from the project. How can a design of such magnitude have bad base studies related to alignments, lanuses tides etc? It is said in the media that the original design consultants “walked off/were replaced’. Perhaps they did not subscribe to being party towards enabling bribes and wanted to get done with the project in the originally allocated time. Given the technology, skill and intelligence available at hand, this project would have been over in 3 years. The extra years were to only ensure that everyone who wanted a cut, got it.
Like lakhs of Mumbaikars, I have made a small contribution to the BWSL by paying my taxes and yet I will be charged a toll to use it. The money spent on this could have easily re-vamped our railways and bus systems- the public transport used by a majority of people in the city.
I feel cheated, just like my tax-paying middle class brethren.
It’s time we woke up and smelled the coffee…and stopped paying Taxes. Instead we should just pay tolls/ user fees for every government service /infrastructure that comes our way.
I could not agree more .... but I am struggling to convince this to my friends .....
ReplyDeleteWhen will politicians stop using publicity ..... it is not an invention ...
I completely agree with the bad preliminary study ...
There should be a way out of this bling bling ..... educate masses ... the freaking media is biased and will only take side of people who pay them ...
aye aye.
ReplyDeleteu left out : the erosion it is going to cause to the coastline.
pathetic architectural detailing: the street lights are no different from the ones used elsewhere on our pothole filled roads, the gi railings are ugly (to say the least), they block the view of mahim bay on the journey towards worli, also, you drive right past worli fort managing to catch a few glimpses of the monument.
as it is places like this have become invisible.
THEY HAVENT EVEN COMPLETED THE DAMN THING YET !!! IT IS JUST AN EYEWASH WITH ELECTIONS ROUND THE CORNER.
no rajiv gandhi/savarkar/shahhed setu.
the bridge belongs to the people of mumbai first, then the country.
lets just call it bwsl, make a logo (like csia- debatable) and be proud of whatever achievement they say it is !
hmm.. although i dont like ur last line coz its exceedingly capitalistic, i totlly agree with you on his one.....
ReplyDeleteits amazing that a nation-wide planning programme in so many schools across the nation cant make a lousy simulation that goes ....
"so many crores for a so-called-funky-10-yrs behind-the-times bridge for top 5% of the car owning population" VS. "same crores for public transport which will be used by the remaining 95% of the population at least 90% of the time!!"
we are such suckers for icons!
jun