Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, usually referred to by its abbreviation LBS Marg, is a 21 km long, major arterial road in the Eastern Suburbs of Mumbai. LBS Marg connects the neighbouring city of Thane with the suburb of Sion in Mumbai. It passes through heavily populated areas of the Eastern Suburbs and is heavily congested. Approximately, 3 lakh vehicles use this road daily. The road is named after Lal Bahadur Shastri, the second Prime Minister of India.
Route description
LBS Marg begins at Thane, extending from the Old Agra Road and the Ghodbunder Road.[4] It intersects the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) at Marathon Chowk. When travelling between Mumbai and Thane, commuters have to pay a toll. The toll gate (called naaka in Marathi) is called Teen Hath Naaka. LBS Marg then passes through all the eastern suburbs, from Mulund till Sion, where it joins with the EEH near the Sion Flyover. Both LBS Marg and the EEH pass through Thane and the Eastern Suburbs but they pass to the west and east of the Central Line respectively. LBS Marg has only 4 lanes and passes through residential and commercial areas making it more congested and encroached upon. On the other hand, EEH is wide, well-maintained and smooth. It goes through an uninhabited area where development is prohibited.
LBS Marg also offers connectivity to the Western Suburbs when it intersects the Andheri - Ghatkopar Link Road and the JVLR. The road also intersects the BKC Road at Kurlaproviding connectivity to the Bandra Kurla Complex, and onward to Bandra. It also offers connectivity to the Harbour Suburbs when it intersects the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road (GMLR).
LBS Marg is connected to Kalina from Kurla via a 6m bridge over the Mithi river.
Realty
[1][2]R City Mall on LBS Marg inGhatkopar (West).[3][4]Phoenix MarketCity on LBS Marg inKurla (West)
Initially, LBS Marg was lined with manufacturing units, but in the 2000s, a huge demand for defunct industrial properties on this road turned it into a hotbed for real estate activity . Several factories closed and were replace by plush residential buildings causing traffic on the road to rise exponentially. It is now a popular residential and commercial address. Discovery Offices, which will be the 5th tallest building in Mumbai and the tallest building outside South Mumbai, is located on LBS Marg. It is currently under construction and is expected to open on 1 March 2015.
LBS Marg has several malls, apartment complexes and corporate offices along it. Some of Mumbai's most prominent malls - R-Mall (Mulund), Neptune Magnet Mall (Bhandup), R City Mall(Ghatkopar) and Phoenix MarketCity (Kurla) - are located on LBS Marg. Godrej and Boyce IT Park, located in Vikhroli, houses the offices of several IT firms. Corporates like Accenture,Capgemini, TCS, Wipro, WNS Spectramind, ICICI Prudential, HCC, Colgate-Palmolive and CIPLA have offices on LBS Marg. Godrej Park Site and Raj Legacy in Vikhroli, Kalpataru Aura and The Address in Ghatkopar, and HDIL's Dreams and Whispering Towers in Bhandup are some notable residential complexes on LBS Marg.
Neptune Magnet Mall is part of a 22-acre satellite township, Living Point, consisting of six towers of 22-stories each being developed by Neptune Group. A major residential project in on LBS Marg in Mulund are 16 towers of 20 storeys each on 30 acres of land, developed by Dheeraj Groups Dreams. Dheeraj purchased the land for [5]85 crore (US$14 million) from API Industries.
A portion of the seven-acre plot belonging to Schrader Duncan Limited on LBS Marg in Mulund was sold to Kalpataru Constructions for [6]52 crore (US$8.7 million) in December 2005.Earlier that year the Glaxo-owned Burroughs Wellcome 23-acre plot in Mulund was sold for [7]220 crore (US$37 million) to Oberoi Constructions. Other major realty deals along LBS Marg during the same period include developer Nayan Bheda of Neptune Group's purchase of a 22-acre plot that belonged to GKW on LBS Marg for [8]101 crore (US$17 million) and Mukand Ltd, a steel-maker, sale of a 25-acre plot at Kurla for [9]221 crore (US$37 million).
In 2008, sale rates of commercial property on the road were [10]20000 (US$330) per sq ft and on lease, rates from 75-150 per sq ft. On 9 May 2008, DNA reported that a17-acre industrial plot of Hindustan Composite Ltd on LBS Marg at Vikhroli, owned by Kolkata-based industrialist Raghu Mody, had been sold to Suresh Raheja owned K Raheja Universal for over [11]650 crore (US$110 million), or approximately over 4,200 a sq ft. Earlier that year, Bombay Oxygen Corporation Ltd, a factory manufacturing oxygen and nitrogen at LBS Marg in Mulund, sold its 10-acre plot for above 200 crore, or approximately 20 crore an acre to Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd. Another major deal that year was the sale of a 53-acre plot owned by Fiat India at Kurla to IKG, an ILFS subsidiary, for [12]608 crore (US$100 million).
Widening
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has had plans to widen LBS Marg since 1970. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) made plans to widen the road in 2004. Despite the MMRDA conducting studies and drawing up a rehabilitation plan, the project never took off. They later abandoned the project, and handed over the road to the BMC for maintenance in 2008. The MMRDA had surveyed the structures and submitted a report to the BMC, however, the latter rejected it stating that "it did not match the records".
The BMC decided to take over the project and fund it with its own resources in 2012. The BMC spent [13]7 lakh (US$12,000) for a fresh survey. The work will require the demolition of 2000 buildings. 80% of the structures are commercial and the rest are residential. BMC estimates the cost of acquiring properties for demolition to be [14]300 crore (US$50 million). After the work is completed LBS Marg will be a 6 lane road (currently 4 lanes) having a width of 120 feet (currently 60–80 feet).