The Bombay High Court has ordered Jog Engineering Ltd, which is constructing the six lane, Andheri flyover in suburban Mumbai, to use the space below the flyover for commercial purposes in a phased manner, in accordance with the recommendations of an expert committee.

Jog Engineering had started construction work on the 1.5 km long flyover on the Western Express Highway in October 1997. The company was allowed to recover its investments by selling the 32,000 square metres of space below the flyover, for commercial use. However, this was objected to by the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG).

In a petition filed, BEAG stated that the commercial use of the space below the flyover would result in more traffic and thereby cause pollution in the vicinity. As a result, Jog Engineering alleged payments problems and construction work was stopped in April 1999.

Following this, an expert committee was set up to ascertain the impact of commercial use of the space. The committee recommended that construction should be completed to ease the traffic congestion and of the 32,000 square metres of space, 9,000 square metres should be used for commercial purposes. The impact of this should be monitored and accordingly, more space could be used. These recommendations were accepted by the High Court, which in turn permitted Jog Engineering to use the space for commercial purposes in a phased manner. Accordingly, the company plans to raise Rs.60 crore from the sale of part of the space below the flyover and Rs.2 crore through lease of space for a period of 99 years. In addition to this, Rs.10 crore would be raised via sale of advertising rights on the flyover.

It may be mentioned that on court orders, the State government had extended funds and construction work had resumed in October 2000. Jog Engineering had planned to complete the flyover by June 2001. However, in June, the company alleged delayed payments and postponed the completion date to 26 October 2001.