Mumbai Coastal Road project's clearance cancellation to impact L&T, HCC

The Bombay High Court decision on Tuesday to cancel coastal regulation zone (CRZ) clearance to the Mumbai Coastal Road project will impact the order book for companies like Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and HCC.

L&T was awarded two packages of the coastal road project worth Rs 7,489 crore in October last year. HCC, in a joint venture with Hyundai Development Corporation, was awarded another contract for the project worth Rs 2,126 crore. HCC’s share in the joint venture is 55 per cent with an order inflow of Rs 1,169 crore.

"We declare that MCGM cannot proceed with the works without obtaining an environmental clearance under Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification," Justice N M Jamdar stated in the order, ANI reported on Tuesday. The order came on a bunch of petitions filed by a few NGOs and residents.

As of March 2019, HCC’s order book stood at Rs 18,554 crore and L&T’s total order book was at Rs 2.93 trillion. Execution work on the project has so far been limited to preliminary works. In the event of a delay in clearances or a lack of them, there will be an impact on the order book for these companies.

The coastal road project is one of the many infrastructure projects underway in Mumbai to decongest roads and other transport systems. In addition to the coastal road, a city-wide metro network, second phase of the sea-link project, a trans-harbour link connecting the mainland to its satellite areas are amongst other projects underway. 

The coastal road project was planned to connect the southern part of the city to its western suburbs, running parallel to its coastline. Including the coastal road project, construction companies are executing projects worth Rs 63,934 crore in Mumbai alone.