Work on six bridges—including the long pending Madh-to-Versova bridge—to be constructed by BMC in the western suburbs pegged at around R2,000 crore, has been further delayed. With no contractors coming forward to construct the bridges, owing to the need of a slew of environmental clearances, the BMC will now appoint consultants to take permissions from the government.

All the bridges are meant to cover water bodies—creeks, nullahs or the sea—at certain locations, requiring high level of mangroves destruction. Thus, environmental clearances will be mandatory and are likely to take time, said civic officials. Also affected are work on Marve to Manori bridge, Infinity Mall Road to Lagoon Road in Malad. It's been over a decade since the Madh to Versova bridge has been okayed, but it's yet to be taken up owing to resistance from the local fishing community.