Bandra Worli sea link a dream project for the Mumbai city

Executive summary

The construction of the Bandra-Worli Bridge is a part of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link project necessitated by the exceptionally large amounts of traffic, which was earlier using the Mahim Causeway travel from the western suburbs of Mumbai to the commercial hub of the island City. This project is linked with efficacy to handle the traffic in Mumbai and also economic metropolis and the internationally used harbour. Mumbai’s rapid growth in economy and population since its independence, traffic has stalled in the city centre, It is expected that 120,000 PCU's use the Mahim causeway every day. Therefore, this project through sea link is a substantial different project to handle traffic and congestion in Mumbai, mainly in Worli and Bandra. 8 lanes are provided on the sea link, out of which 2 are dedicated to city bus. It is the first open sea bridge in India and there was no other alternative than to construct over the bay. There are several benefits of the project such as reduced vehicle operation costs and journey times as well as reducing the issue of traffic, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, reducing pollution and city obtaining a coastal landmark. The main part of the project is the larger two twinned tower cable stayed sections of the bridge which were designed by consultants Dar Al-Handasah and it was dedicated to the people on 30 June 2009.

Introduction

Project management is the process of leading the work of the project to achieve the goals and meet the success criteria at a specified time period. Through project management, it is possible to develop good strategic planning to conduct the activities and reallocate the resources to complete the project efficiently (Mortazavi, Kheyroddin and Naderpour, 2020). The project manager in this regard tries to develop aim and objectives of the project and follow the phases such as conception and initiation, planning, execution, performance/monitoring, and project close. The phases are important to create good project management planning and complete it successfully by meeting the project objectives. This project management is related to the Bandra Worli sea link– a dream project for the Mumbai city. Through the project planning, it is possible to reallocate the resources, hiring the project team and technicians, instructing them with individual job roles and team responsibilities, developing Gantt chart and time schedule to complete the project within the allocated period of time. This project management planning is also effective to recommend some suitable suggestions for implementing the project activities and developing suitable planning so that the project Bandra Worli sea link– a dream project for the Mumbai city can be completed proficiently by ensuring values creation for the social communities as a whole.

Background of the project

The official name of this mega project is the Rajiv Gandhi sea link and it is mainly connected be through two main ovulated area of Mumbai city in India, Worli and Bandra. Mumbai is known for the most congested city in India due to its busy schedule and the population in Mumbai and hence, this project is hereby crucial to reduce the travel time of the people travelling through Bandra and Worli. Through this project idea of Bandra Worli sea link– a dream project for the Mumbai city, the state governments want to cut down the Mumbaikars (the people who resides in the city) 1/3 travelling duration from almost 90 minutes to 30 minutes. Traffic is hereby a main issue of the people and the government to manage the timing of the individuals as well as green environmental footprint, as congested are and traffic pollutes the society with high greenhouse gas emission (Harris, 2018). Hence, through the Bandra Worli sea link– a dream project for the Mumbai city project, it is possible to cut down the greenhouse gas emissions in the society and provide safe environment to stay healthy. This project is hereby very special for India where open sea connection can be developed between Worli and Bandra in Mumbai (Zhou, Wang and Zeng, 2018).

Mumbai city is the most over ovulated city in India where it is also considered as business hub of the country and most of the business activities are dealt in Mumbai. On the other hand, Mumbai is known for Bollywood industry which is another reason of over ovulated city. The overpopulation further creates the requirement of development in transportation modes in different area of the city. The Wced, 1987 describe the development as “development which meets the needs of the present without comprising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Hence, the Maharashtra state government comes up with the innovative project plan of constructing bridge which connects the two main area of the city through Sea (Ferguson and Chrimes, 2019). Initially, Mahim Causeway was the only option to connect the Western suburb with central Mumbai. And this is the major reason of traffic and congestion in the areas, mainly in the office hours and also at night leading to worse situation for the people in the society and also for the government to manage the trafficking system. Hence, in the year of 1998 the Maharashtra state government announced this dream project of Bandra Worli sea link for the Mumbaikars. They estimate that, 4 year of time frame is required from the project starts in 1999 and wished to be completed in 2003 (Rai, 2017).

Critical Project Management & Project Management tools

Project management is important for progressing in this current project of Bandra Worli Bridge in Mumbai, where the project manager plays an important role in managing the activities and providing structured roles and responsibilities to each stakeholder for handling the project successfully and completing it within the effective time schedule (Ding et al., 2018). In this regard, the Gantt chart, project stakeholder’s management and risk register will be developed through which it is possible to understand the project activities and developmental phases as well as identify the stakeholders who are engaged with this bridge construction project. The project is expected to complete within 3 years if time, by handling the activities efficiently and reallocating the organisational resources productively.

PESTLE analysis

Political

Political stability in India is effective for conducting the project and in this regard there is collaboration of the state government and central government which is suitable to create effective environment for conducting the project. Additionally, internal collaboration and government aid are also effective to start the project with effective plan.

Economic

Economic growth is a crucial factor contributing in project management, where increasing GDP and enhancing the purchasing owe rarity of the individuals is helpful to conduct the project. The individuals try to enhance their productivity to gain higher and there is employment rate which contributes in managing the social developmental projects.

Social

Social activities are also playing important role in managing the developmental project. This particular project can be considered as social developmental projects and the government and local authority are efficient to collaborate and develop partnership working practice for completing the project. High literacy rate, customer’s preferences towards better practices and online activities further change the taste and preferences of the people in the country. These factors are effective for conducting the project efficiently.

Technological

Technological advancement boosts the project activities and it further supports the project manager to handle the working practices, including managing the suppliers and other team members, stocking the raw materials and others are managed well. The project manger is also able to utilise the latest innovative techniques, project management tools and equipment to develop the bridge in Mumbai.

Ethical

Ethical considerations are necessary to be managed well in project management, which provides a scope to the project manager to handle the project activities ethically. The employment laws, health and safety at the workplace as well as managing equality and diversity are helpful to progress in the project legally. The organisations and local authorities are collaborating and maintaining the organisational rules and regulation, data protection and copyright to conduct the project efficiently.

Environmental

The environmental practice provides a scope to progress in the project efficiently, where the MSRDC or Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Limited, Maharashtra state government, State pollution control board and Ministry of environmental affairs are cooperating with each other for better practice and protecting the natural resources in long run.

Stakeholder’s management

HCC has High influence and the strategies of Managing stakeholders are providing high return on their investment, good communication and cooperation and developing cooperative decision for the project. Managing HCC has crucial impacts on the project which are construction activities become smooth where the organisation is able to monitor and review the progress of the construction of the bridge.

MSRDC or Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Limited is also highly influential stakeholder group that have crucial impacts such as ad Development Corporation plays an important role to make the project successful and give emission to construct the bridge over sea. The practice of managing MSRDC are Getting permission, following their instruction and high communication (Liu, and Lu, 2020) State pollution control board ensures that the project would be conducted under supervision and control and Pollution control board provide emission for further construction of the bridge and the project manager can complete it with all the legal requirements and ethical structure. Through following the ethical consideration, legislation to protect environment, cooperative working practice, and high return on the investment and sustainable solution to the project. Ministry of environmental affairs has medium influence and the practices of managing environmental protection laws and legislation, partnership working and high incentives to the projects are effective to manage them. Ministry of environmental affairs helps to maintain the safety and natural resources on earth by protecting the environment. Maharashtra state government has high influence on Bandra Worli project and through Partnership working practice with the state government, following the ethical structure and rules; it is possible to complete the Mumbai project efficiently. The project managers try to conduct this project with effective cooperation with Maharashtra state government and it helps to complete the project efficiently by maintaining its quality. Employees group is also crucial stakeholder of the project and they are managed through Flexibility in the workplace, safety harness and avoiding hazardous situation, training and development programs, incentives and quality supervision. Employees are important human resource of the project to construct the bridge with organisational resources and utilising latest technology (Geraldi, and Lechter, 2012). Project managers have high influence on the project and they are managed through High return on investment, good communication and empowerment, where Fulfilment of the project within specific period of time can be possible under efficient project manager. Through creating values for the customers, providing the healthy environmental, Lack of traffic and Smooth bridge with different lanes, it is possible to manage the customers group. Creating values for the customers and welcome those to the new transportation system are effective for maximising their interest and reducing their travelling time (Tan et al., 2020). The suppliers are important stakeholder’s group in this bridge developmental project in Mumbai, and they are managed through high return on their investment; strengthen green supply chain management, good bonding and incentives and freedom to work. Good supply chain management further ensures supply of quality raw materials timely.

Risk management plan

Lack of quality raw materials with high Probability of occurrence and the impacts of this risk are Lack of quality raw materials leads to failure of the project due to poor quality materials to construct the bridge. The supply chain management becomes failed where the government face difficulties to manage quality of the raw materials, utilised in this Bandra Worli bridge project which may break down the project and delay the construction. It is important to maintain the best quality raw materials in the construction of bridge for its reliability and validity. The managers must ensure the best quality materials so that the stakeholders can rely on them and for this, it is necessary to hire the best organisation supplying the raw materials and strengthen their supply chain for managing the construction of the bridge.

Presence of unskilled employees in the government department and the effects are Unskilled labour force is other major risk factors in this construction project which leads to delay of the completion of the project and quality is also being hampered. Poor working activities and lack of efficacy deteriorates quality of the bridge (Al Farizi and Latief, 2018). Hiring the skilled workforce is mandatory for the project manager as well as it is necessary to retain the experienced government staff and technicians to handle the project activities.

Non-cooperation of the stakeholders is another major risk with high chance of occurrence. It is a big project for the Mumbai, and cooperation and internal communication are mandatory so that the project manager can handle the workers and lead them towards completing the bridge within specific period of time. Due to lack of technological advancement as well as poor cooperation among the stakeholders, there would be delay in project completion and other administrative problems may rise (Geraldi, and Lechter, 2012). Maximising cooperation and partnership working practice is the main strategy to mitigate the risk of non-cooperation and in this regard, the project manager must implement Information and Communication Technology for enhancing communication and monitoring the progress of the staff in working efficiently. Continuous cooperation and internal communication are hereby necessary to guide the staff and maximise their productivity and performance in constructing the bridge by utilising the organisational resources.

Internal conflict is also another major risk factor. Internal conflict is also serious issue for the stakeholders to manage strong teamwork and it leads ton failure of the construction project. Due to misunderstanding, language gap and cultural diversity, the workers face the problem of internal conflicts and it also becomes difficult for the project manager to manage the employees and lead them towards achieving the project success (Lokesh and Mahendra, 2018). Internal conflicts must be handled tactfully through arranging training and developmental program as well as maintaining the health and safety standard at the construction of the bridge. The project manager must ensure equality and diversity as well as develop good training programs for improving the skill set and knowledge of the employees, so that they are encouraged to manage their performance and contribute positively in achieving the project success (Geraldi, and Lechter, 2012).

Another risk is Lack of health and safety measures. Poor hygiene in the workplace as well as hazardous in constructing the Bridge as well as lack of safety measures such as CCTV camera, fire extinguisher and emergency exits as well as safety harness, gloves and shoes, are the major issues in the construction project where the project manager may face problems in handling their workers without health and safety. Health and Safety at workplace Act 1974 is necessary to be implemented in the construction project to ensure safety and security of the employees and motivate them to perform under suitable environment (Geraldi, and Lechter, 2012). The project manager must implement CCTV for continuous monitoring and apart from that, there is necessity of implementing fire extinguishers and developing emergency exits to protect the employees from any hazardous situation. Safety measures, safety helmet, gloves and harness must also be provided to all the staff while working in this Bandra Worli bridge project in Mumbai.

Lack of management is also high occurrence risk leading to failure of the project. Another major risk associated with the project is poor management, as it is a big project for Mumbai, the managers face difficulties to handle the project activities and share the information with all the stakeholders for team work. Due to poor communication and lack of corporate culture, the project managers face issues to handle the working activities efficiently (Mortazavi, Kheyroddin and Naderpour, 2020). Good management style through communication and team working principles must be developed for mitigating this risk and it further provides a scope to the project manager to handle all the stakeholders and conduct the project activities smoothly (Dang et al., 2017).

Lack of successful utilisation of the resources, Due to unskilled workforce and lack of training and developmental programs during this project of Bandra and Worli Bridge connection, the employees cannot utilise the organisational resources efficiently which may hamper the quality of the project and also delay happens (Ongkowijoyo, CGurmu and Andi, 2020). Training and developmental program provides a scope to improve knowledge and skill set of the staff working in this construction project and in this regard the project manager must focus on providing training programs, so that the employees can utilise organisational resources and maximise their performance.

Poor stakeholder management has also high chance to occur. Stakeholder’s management is important for the project manager to complete the project activities proficiently, However, due to non-cooperation and lack of communication, the managers fail to manage their stakeholders and it further raise misunderstanding among the stakeholders. Providing high return on their investment is crucial for managing and retaining the stakeholders for long run. Continuous communication, relationship bonding and managing the non-monetary incentives and freedom to work under flexible working circumstances are hereby mandatory to protect the interest of the stakeholders.

Permissions delay from the environmental safety department, The stakeholders Ministry of environmental affairs and State pollution control board are involved with the project and it is another issue, where delay happens in assessing the project and developing documentation as per the legal process. Cooperative working practice with the environmental protection agencies is hereby essential to get emissions and conduct the legal requirements and documentations within effective time, so that the project time schedule can be maintained for successful completion of the bridge.

Critical evaluation of the impact of the project

The features of the project are such as,

The project of Bandra Worli sea link in Mumbai is effective for saving the travelling time due to increased spending and reducing delays in intersections. There is Modern toll plaza of 16 lanes with the automated toll collection system The new bridge becomes the eight lane facility for the exclusive use of the fast moving vehicles with limited access such as only the four wheelers and above, where 2 lanes are proposed to be reserved for the buses. Emergency crossovers and Disaster Management Program Main Cable Stayed Bridge of 500 m main span over Bandra Channel and second Cable stayed bridge of main span 150m over Worli Channel Development of promenade and landscaping to enhance the environment A minimum clearance of 20 meters is provided below the main spans for marine traffic. State - of - the - art technology is used for construction The link is developed as an "Intelligent Bridge" with a "State - of - the - art" system for system monitoring, surveillance, information guidance and emergency support

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Project values

Through analysing the benefits, it is possible to recognise the values associated with the project and the major values are such as,

Mumbai gets a new landmark

Estimated savings in Vehicle Operating Costs (VOC): Rs. 100 Crores per annum

No adverse effect on fisheries, marine life and livelihood of fisherman

Stress free driving

Maximising values of social communities

Reduced noise pollution in Mahim, Dadar, Prabhadevi and Worli along existing roads

Reduced accidents

Reduction in Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Oxide Levels in Mahim, Dadar, Prabhadevi and Worli along existing roads

Considerable savings in travel time (20 to 30 minutes) due to increased speed and reduced delays (23 signals avoided)

Reduction in traffic on existing roads because of traffic diversion to the Sea Link

Landscaping along with the approaches and waterfront promenade enhance the environment and add green spots to the city Mortazavi, Kheyroddin and Naderpour, 2020)

Managing the stakeholders engaged in the project, both internal and external

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, the project was a success on an engineering and architectural level, but has failed on project management level. The project was conceived with a daily traffic of 75,000 vehicles, but only 35,000 vehicles travel daily affecting the revenue generation, hence the cost of recovery the plan become huge. It is essential for the project manager to manage the project tactfully through developing alternative poles, so that it would possible to design the bridge more innovatively. It is essential for the project managers to develop alternative strategies for handling the bridge and increasing their revenues in long run.

Recommendations for improving project management practice

The strategic recommendations are,

The project managers must divide the lanes of buses, four wheelers and other commercial vehicles and private vehicles, so that the time for crossing the poles become short and it further attract more vehicles each day. Through the project is successful at engineering and architectural level, but it fails on the project management level and thus it can be managed tactically in order to retain more vehicles each day and maintain its revenue.

It is mandatory for the project manager to manage the prices of crossing the bridge so that lower price can be set and it would be possible to attract more clients daily. The cost of using the bridge is high and thus lowering the cost is mandatory to manage the project and celebrate the success of the project by generating revenue.

It is essential for the project manager to handle the quality of the bridge and make monthly costing system for the customers, so that they need to spend time for crossing the bridge. The monthly system further attracts the customers to use the bridge and avoid traffic.

The project manager also needs to handle the clients by promoting the marketing planning, which is an important aspect of project management. Through televisions advertisement and digital media adds, it is necessary to share all the necessary information about the Bandra and Worli Bridge in Mumbai, so that it would be possible to attract more clients and provide them safe road for the trip

Reference List

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Ongkowijoyo, C.S., Gurmu, A. and Andi, A., 2020. Investigating risk of bridge construction project: exploring Suramadu strait-crossing cable-stayed bridge in Indonesia. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment.

Rai, S., 2017. Making of Bandra-Worli Sea Link. In Mobility Engineering (pp. 49-58). Springer, Singapore.

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Appendices

Gantt chart