Eastern Freeway to become India's longest in April Last 3Km Stretch, Tunnel To Be Inaugurated

Mumbai: The entire stretch of Eastern Freeway from Orange Gate in south Mumbai till Ghatkopar will be thrown open to public in the third week of April, making it the longest such dedicated corridor in the country. The 16.59-km route can be covered in 25 minutes, cutting down on travel time by almost 50 minutes. 

    Usually, it takes one-and-a-half to two hours to cover the stretch by road, depending on traffic. 
    “The last 3 km portion of the Freeway from Chembur to Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road is on the verge of completion. Once that stretch is inaugurated, it will especially benefit motorists from Ghatkopar and those travelling to Thane and beyond,” said a senior official of MMRDA, the implementing agency of the project. The first stretch of the Freeway—9.29km of elevated corridor from Orange Gate to Anik and 4.3km groundlevel stretch till Shivaji Chowk in Chembur—was opened in June 2013. The official further said, “We have undertaken several measures such as improving the condition at the Panjrapole junction in Chembur so that the waiting time at the signal can be reduced. We plan to shorten the radius of the rotary island at the signal to provide more road space.” The entire project cost Rs 1,463 crore. 
    Besides the 3-km stretch, the second tunnel, meant for vehicles bound for south Mumbai, will also be opened. “The work on the second tunnel is complete. But the road surface there is being improved and so, the entire width is not available to traffic for the time being,” the official added. Work on a pair of ramps near Bhakti Park, which will help motorists take the freeway to Chembur, is also at an advanced stage of completion. Two other pairs of ramps—one at the Govandi ROB junction and the other at Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road—will also be inaugurated at the same time. A fourth one, which will help vehicles to and from Wadala, Dadar, Mahim and Matunga access the Freeway will be ready in May. 
    Diversion of vehicles to the Freeway has already eased snarl on Dr Ambedkar Marg, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg, MbPT road and the Eastern Express Highway. The opening of the last phase will help further reduce congestion on Dr Ambedkar road. Around 50% fuel consumption and that in the levels of harmful emissions and noise are also likely to go down. 
    Explaining the delay of the last stretch, officials said that MMRDA had to rehabilitate 495 families. Rehabilitating them, land acquisition and hurdles faced by the presence of transformers and pumping stations in the way pushed back the deadline, an official said. 
Kherwadi flyover 
    he south-bound arm of the Khe-Trwadi flyover is likely to be opened in May. The 585-m-long flyover, costing Rs 28 crore, is expected to reduce snarls on the Western Express Highway. MMRDA’s metropolitan commissioner UPS Madan said, “We hope to finish the work by May. After that work on the north-bound fank will begin.” 
    A traffic official said, “Though the corridor is meant for south-bound traffic, we may allow north-bound vehicles on it in the evening. But a final call will be taken later.” TNN

Motorists can cover 16.59 km from south Mumbai till Ghatkopar in 25 minutes

Online ads firm Quikr raises 548cr from foreign investors

Mumbai: Quikr, a Mumbai-based online and mobile classifieds player, has raised $90 million (Rs 548 crore) from a clutch of marquee investors led by a Swedish private equity fund, Kinnevik.      The development signals the robust growth in India’s consumer internet businesses which have seen a steady flow of investor funds on the back of a fast growing internet population. The other big investors which have pumped in funds in Quikr are PE major Warburg Pincus, Norwest Venture Partners, Ebay and Nokia Growth Partners.      Last month, Ebay Inc led a $134 million investment in online marketplace Snapdeal, even as collectively domestic online retailers such as Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong raised more than $600 million in the past nine months.      The five-year old company, founded by Pranay Chulet, an IIT-Delhi and IIMCalcutta alumnus has to date raised $150 million in funds, and competes withthe likes of OLX, which is backed by the South African internet and media giant Naspers. Quikr boasts of 30 million unique monthly users across 1,000 cities and towns with as many as 12 million listings through its mobile and online platforms and is being valued at about $250 million. Quikr eyes 100m users in 3-4 years  Mumbai: Based on the concept of the American classifieds giant Craigslist, Quikr registers listings for categories like jobs, automobiles, used goods, services and electronics.      Pranay Chulet told TOI that the investment will be used to continue to build the business.      “We should be able to cross 100 million unique users in about three to four years,” said Chulet, who grew up in a small mining town in Rajasthan before going to IIT-Delhi and IIM-Calcutta. He later worked in New York for ten years as a consultant before coming back to India in 2008 to start Quikr a year later.      Quikr which provides a platform to consumers to help them buy, sell, rent various products and services has other investors including Matrix Partners India and Omidyar Network. Quikr was formerly known as Kijiji.in an Ebay-owned platform .      This $90 million round, which is by far the biggest for Quikr, has got on board a new investor in Kinnevik, one of the largest listed investment companies in Europe with total assets of $7 billion, which has ploughed in top dollars in Rocket Internet, the world famous German incubator of internet companies including Jabong and FabFurnish in India.      However, Quikr will be the Stockholm-based fund’s first direct investment in India. The PE firm specialises in online investments mainly focused around e-commerce and marketplaces. Warburg Pincus, the New York-based PE biggie, which is also a part of this round of  funding, first invested first in Quikr in 2012.      “We are excited about Kinnevik joining us in our journey as we build the business from here on. We liked their experience in the classifieds space,” Chulet said. A decade long economic buoyancy and changing lifestyles of a large demography makes India one of the last potentially big frontiers for global investors both financial and strategic ones like Ebay. Mumbai-based investment bank Avendus Capital was the lead advisor to Quikr on the deal along with Investec. Pranay Chulet (40), founder of Quikr