MUMBAI: Straddling the railway tracks near Sandhurst Road, one arm of Hancock Bridge is open to traffic, the other incomplete and suspended mid-air with no landing ramp. Meant to replace a British-era bridge and function as a vital east-west connector between Mazgaon and Dongri, the new Hancock Bridge is a textbook case of systemic failures in planning and coordination, and lack of foresight and accountability by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
A decade since it was demolished, only half the bridge is complete – one of its two arms was opened in August 2022 – its estimated cost surging from ₹41.31crore in 2016, when the contract was awarded, to ₹100 crore in 2026.
Delays are due to design changes, contractor issues and litigation over the rehabilitation of project-affected persons (PAPs). Its biggest flaw, critics say, is the astonishing lack of foresight – the project requires rehabilitating PAPs from a staggering 39 buildings.
“No amount of money will get this bridge completed,” said Amin Patel, MLA from Mumbadevi, who has raised the issue of Hancock Bridge four times on the floor of the state assembly. “The issue is the 39 buildings that are in the way, three are MHADA’s cessed buildings and 36 are BMC-owned structures. Unless the BMC, MHADA and the railways coordinate to provide rehabilitation, 50% of Hancock Bridge will remain suspended in the air,” said Patel.
Hancock Bridge was demolished in January 2016, with no clear blueprint or coordinated rehabilitation strategy. “It is a two-lane bridge, where 50% of the bridge has no landing ramp and remains suspended. This issue was raised four times in the assembly about why there was no coordination between MHADA, the railways and the BMC. Why build only half a bridge and spend so much money,” he said.
Residents say the consequences of the delay in the project have been colossal. With no proper road linking Noor Bagh on either side of Mazgaon during construction, students from St Peter’s School were forced to cross the railway tracks. “This resulted in a number of accidental deaths. It is a sad story,” added Patel.
Forced to comment on the decade-long delay, the BMC in December 2025 claimed the final phase had gained momentum after the civic body promised tenements to all the PAPs. It acknowledged that lack of rehabilitation housing had stalled the project.
“This is rubbish,” says Patel. “Work stalled four years ago. This was supposed to be a two-lane bridge from Noor Bagh to Eli Qadori School. But the height was later raised due to railway work. This is the reason the bridge has no landing ramp,” he claimed.
Abhijit Bangar, additional municipal commissioner, projects, said “The focus is on providing rehabilitation. Some MHADA tenants from three buildings had moved court and secured a stay order. The BMC is trying to get the stay vacated. Parallel to that, remaining civil work like building approach roads on both sides will be completed.”
Kamlakar Shenoy, an RTI activist who has moved the Bombay High Court against the BMC on the issue of the delay in reconstruction of certain bridges in Mumbai, said, “The delay and consequent cost escalation is tantamount to criminal negligence of elected representatives and the BMC. Hancock Bridge will probably never be complete, at least not in our lifetime.”
According to Abbas Chatriwala, an RTI activist and a local resident, “Rehabilitation and compensation for residential flats and shops are significantly higher now than they were in 2016, making this a major driver of cost escalation. Ultimately, the real losers are the taxpayers and hardworking citizens.”