scorecardresearch
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeIndiaJuly 2023 is target for first phase of Mumbai’s showpiece coastal road,...

July 2023 is target for first phase of Mumbai’s showpiece coastal road, 60% reclamation done

The coastal road will stretch 29.2 km from Nariman Point in South Mumbai to Kandivali in the western suburbs, and is touted to change the way Mumbai commutes.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finished reclaiming more than 60 per cent of the land required for the showpiece coastal road project from under the Arabian Sea.

The civic body is now targeting a deadline of July 2023 to complete the first phase of the coastal road, a pet project of the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

“Substantial work has happened in the last couple of months,” Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said. “17 per cent of the physical work stands completed as of now and the said coastal road will be functional in July 2023.”

The entire coastal road will stretch 29.2 km from Nariman Point in South Mumbai to Kandivali in the western suburbs, and is touted to change the way Mumbai commutes through decongesting of the western suburbs.

In October 2018, the BMC started work on the first phase from Marine Drive in South Mumbai until the Worli end of the Bandra-Worli sea link, estimated to cost Rs 12,721 crore. The civic body had originally hoped to complete the first phase of the coastal road by 2022.

Work on the project, however, was stalled for nearly six months after the Bombay High Court in July 2019 set aside the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance for the project. Eventually, the Supreme Court gave its go ahead for the project in December 2019. 

CM Thackeray, who has very occasionally stepped out for field visits ever since the Covid-19 pandemic struck, last month visited the coastal road project site along with State Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde and State Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray to review the progress of the project.


Also read: With 5% or less positivity rate, Mumbai could finally be surfacing from Covid nightmare


Nod for additional reclamation awaited

The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government, led by former CM Prithviraj Chavan, had proposed the coastal road project as an alternative to an expensive network of sea links to connect Mumbai’s south to its western suburbs in 2011.

The project, however, seemed like a perpetual non-starter as it involved reclaiming land, prohibited under CRZ norms, as well as due to concerns over the adverse effects of reclamation.

The project was stuck until 2015 when the Union environment ministry agreed to amend norms after a meeting between then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.

According to data with the BMC, the civic body has so far reclaimed 175 acres, or about 70 hectares of land, from under the Arabian Sea and plans to reclaim 102 acres, or about 41 hectare more.

The civic body had earlier applied for a clearance to reclaim 90 hectares for the first phase of the coastal road, with plans of using 20 hectares for the road and the rest for parks, cycle lanes, jogging tracks, parking for buses and so on. The environment ministry granted the final CRZ approval for this requirement in May 2017.

The BMC, however, revised its requirement for reclaimed lands, and in October this year submitted an application to the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) to amend the 2017 CRZ clearance and reclaim an additional 21 hectares for the project — 6.5 hectares for the road and another 14.5 hectares for building a sea wall and a rubble mound structure as protection measures to prevent erosion from extreme sea waves and storm surges.

The MCZMA heard the suggestions and objections of various stakeholders in the project and earlier this month decided to recommend the BMC’s proposal to the Union environment ministry for approval.

Tunnelling to start next month

As part of the 9.98-kilometre first phase of the coastal road, the BMC will build 3.4-kilometre-long twin tunnels partially running under the sea between Girgaum and Malabar Hill.

Chahal said the BMC plans to start tunnelling from 7 January next year. The municipal commissioner said that a 400-metre-long tunnel boring machine, which he claims is “the largest ever in India with a diameter of 39.6 feet,” has been fully assembled on the reclaimed land for the tunnelling to begin.

As of November, the BMC has spent Rs 1,281 crore on the first phase of coastal road project of the estimated Rs 12,721 crore.


Also read: Now, Uddhav govt targets Modi’s bullet train project land for Mumbai Metro shed


 

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

3 COMMENTS

  1. What tovSay ?They know their Responsibilty !!Money paid as various Taxes be used witout being wasted eslewhere as project be planned and not to be Prolonged !Even there are no public Tulet in whole of Charkop,Kandivali west Main Market and its Area and normally if pavement or any utilities like Toilet or urinals with Bathing Facilities constructed there are billboard being observed so and so utilities from local authorities funds (OMG) pl take public with your project to support and let them feel they are part of it Hope my post be not misunderstood or miused for making issues on whatvmentioned publicly if it is so then pl excuse me if i am wrong but public sab jaanti hai 🙏🙏😱pl be informed that i am Media proessional from Charkop Area even i have run to local auhority office and upset of not getting proper voting card or relevant docs for me and my family !Sab apni manmani karte hai so inam very much upset about such behaviors with and cant travel frequently to various govt.offices for Voting Card for casting vote by me and my family fed up of visiting local authority offices to transfer name from one area to other despite nowadays all govt.work is online all painan no toilets in charkop main market and surrounding area 🤔🤔🤔🤔😱😱😥😥

  2. Since this is a pet project of Shiv Sena, the new darling of the luddite liberals and selective secularists, expect environmental activists to pretend that this is not happening.

    • The coastal road actually looks spectacular. Let’s appreciate that Shiv Sena is doing something. Metro will also be expanded this year in 2021. The only project thats problematic is bullet train since a lot of delay is happening.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular