Citizens should be the focal point of all infra development'

Kshitish Nadgauda, Senior Vice-President and Managing Director for Asia, Louis Berger, talks about the importance of focusing on providing a pleasant neighborhood experience even as the government plans mega projects for urban transport connectivity

Tell us about the growth journey of Louis Berger…

Louis Berger was founded in 1953 in the US by Dr. Louis Berger who was a geo-technical engineer. Since then we operate in six continents with over 6,000 people across the world. We have been in Asia since 1959 with a small road project in Burma (Myanmar). We have been in India for over 20 years now starting in 1996. We are basically a consulting-engineering company offering a full range of services. Like every company, we have core values that we operate by, which include safety, quality, integrity, client focus and financial success of the project; everything has to be within budget. But most importantly, we want to contribute to society and hence our motto in the company is developing solutions for a better world.  That shows our presence across the world.

How has been the rise of Louis Berger in India?

We have executed over 300 projects across India since 1996 in a variety of sectors. We have been established in Mumbai since 2001. Mumbai is a very important place for us. It is an equal headquarter for the company. For instance, we are associated with the Mumbai monorail project, which is in the last stages of completion now. It should be fully commissioned by early 2020. Transportation is one of the biggest sectors that we operate in. By transportation I mean highways, airports, rail, transit, ports, harbours, waterways and all the related sectors. These are all the markets that we operate in.

What are the mega projects that your company is associated with in Mumbai?

Mumbai is a quite important city for Louis Berger. Our colleagues from Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) presented the Mumbai Coastal Road and we are fortunate to work on one package with the municipal body as the project management consultant (PMC).

We are also associated with the bridge from Priyadarshini Park in Bandra up to Baroda Palace in Worli, which is being executed by L&T. We are also very fortunate to be working with Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) on the extension of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link. Also, we are associated with the Bandra-Versova Sea Link (BVSL). One of the value additions that we did on this particular project is that we realized the connectors at Bandra, Juhu and Versova were ineffective because they were not penetrating into the mainland and not connecting to the Western expressway. So working
with the MSRDC, we have developed concepts to have high speed and high mobility connectors so that the traffic can interchange between the Western expressway and the BVSL. We are also working on realignment of Mumbai-Pune Expressway and it is a major project for MSRDC. What this will do is with a 10km long tunnel through the ghat section, it would cut about 40-45 minutes of travel time. It will be a boon especially for heavy traffic with flatter gradients and no sharp curves. We are also the general consultant on Mumbai metro rail line 4 for Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) which goes from Wadala up to Kasarvadavali.We have designed one package of the Nagpur Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway corridor for the MSRDC. We are also working on Mumbai Metro line 3, which is a 33km long underground section in Mumbai from Colaba to Andheri to Seepz. And we are working on Navi Mumbai Metro line one for Cidco, which should be completed in about a year's time. We are also associated with the monorail project, which traverses through some challenging areas of Mumbai that are very densely populated and congested. This should be operational by early next year. Through our association with such mega projects, we would like to convey our passion and commitment towards Mumbai as a city.

Could you share some more information about the development of mega projects in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR)…

First, I would like to highlight with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and the road network, which is primarily in terms of major roadways, Western expressway, Eastern expressway and Eastern freeway all as we know are pretty congested. This is followed by the suburban railways system, which is even more congested. Then we have the only metro line operational, which is Mumbai Metro Line-1. This is a project on which we had worked some years ago. Also, there is a part of the Mumbai monorail which is operational from Chembur to Wadala.

Against this backdrop, we have a number of new infra projects coming up, which are in advanced stages of construction. For instance, as mentioned earlier,  Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), BVSL  and Mumbai Coastal Road. Then there is a remaining part of monorail. The work on Navi Mumbai Metro is on in full swing. Further, Mumbai Metro Line-3 is under construction. There is Mumbai Metro Line-7 and Line-2, which will be passing from Mankhurd to Dahisar. Also, work is on for the construction of Mumbai Metro Line-4, which will be passing from Wadala all the way up to Kasarvadavali in Thane. and then in addition to these there are other metro lines that are planned. For instance, there are Line-5 and Line-9, which are planned that will go into Kalyan and Bhiwandi. There is an extension of Line-7 to the south of Andheri.

How will all these infra developments change the shape of things to come?

With all these infra projects that are under way, we seem to have the global or the major connectivity, mobility and access all covered. So we can get very quickly from you know in a pan city sense. But what we should not be neglecting at all is that we have some conceptual solutions which need to be developed. However, the message we are building is, below that network that we are going to be building of metro rail, or major roadways like coastal roads and VBSL, we have to tackle every neighbourhood, every local street and every local junction because that is where the quality of life is going to be influenced for an average citizen. At the moment,  this is being neglected. That needs to be addressed on a concurrent basis. For instance, L&T is highlighting about traffic junctions. That is a perfect example and a starting point. If you look at most of our major corridors, like the Western expressway a lot of our problems are coming because of inadequacy of junctions. It is not because of flyovers, which are fine, roads are fine, junctions are inadequately designed. There is no proper channelisation, there is not enough capacity, turning movements are not addressed adequately. This is really what needs to come out of all concurrently with all the projects that we are working on. So we have covered pan city connectivity, but now we have to connect at the lower level. In this regard, the feeder network is what we are talking about here.

Similarly, there is a need to successfully develop all the metro projects, BRTS projects, which would help people  reach their destination with relative ease and comfort. It is not just about speed, it is also about comfort. That is the quality of life what we are talking about. Apart from quick mobility, universal accessibility, addressing the needs of physically-challenged or the aged, the facilities need to be accessible to such individuals. It has to be completely safe for everyone to use. There has to be inter-changeability between modes, it has to be seamless for it to be efficient. The quality of the experience has to be good for the average citizen. The average Mumbaikar needs to be at the focal point of all these developments. This is what we cannot ignore under any circumstance. What it will do is it will compromise the usefulness of all investment that has been made in major infrastructure. If this is tackled, the major infrastructure will attract more ridership to the metros. It will make the city in general very attractive.It would raise the quality of life to international standards, make Mumbai at par with any international city. About 20 years ago, Mumbai had far less congestion, the city was a much easier place to get around. We can now say that there is a golden opportunity to bring that back with all these major projects. What we are doing is, we are going to separate the true traffic, out from local streets, bring it on to major corridors, put people into metros and that gives us a golden opportunity to improve street scraping. Walking, if you look at the statistics, 60% of Mumbaikars still prefer to walk, whether to buses or to trains, We have to improve this experience, it cannot remain like this forever. We cannot keep talking about resilience of Mumbaikars and the adverse circumstances. We have to tackle this. We are looking at 82% of population walking as a means of getting around the city, from home to work to school or to other places. Look at the investment in major infrastructure, all the projects that is to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore in Mumbai but the relative amount being spent at the local level at the street level is much less. That is where the investment has to pour in.

What is the core priority of Louis Berger?

At Louis Berger, safety is a No. 1 priority.  This is all the more important in a place like Mumbai today with the development of so many construction projects under way. So we on all of our projects call upon, starting with our clients, contractors, staff members, and stakeholders to be really focussed on safety. There should be a zero-tolerance approac. Along with safety, health and environment are other issues which remain our core priority.

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