Major boost for Mumbai infrastructure as govt clears Rs 8500 cr coastal road project

Rs 8,500-cr project is part of the Rs 60,000-cr transport infra projects being undertaken by the state govt

The government has granted environment clearance for a 35-km coastal road project to connect north and south Mumbai.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests, headed by Prakash Javadekar, granted clearance to the Rs 8,500 crore project that involves coast reclamation. Construction is expected to start in December, a government official said.   Announcing the news on Twitter, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “Coastal road will decongest traffic in Mumbai and create 91 hectares of green space.” The draft notification would come by June 15 and the final notification by August 15, added Fadnavis. On Saturday, the Maharashtra government had signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Netherlands for technical support to develop the Mumbai coastal road and Metro rail projects. A project report on combining the  35-km coastal road between Nariman Point, Kandivli and the Mumbai Metro-III Colaba-Bandra-Santacruz Electronics Export Processing Zone corridor would be ready in three months with the help of experts from the Netherlands.

The project was conceived by the previous Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government after it decided to drop the extension of the Bandra-Worli sea link project to Haji Ali.  The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, which was voted to power in the Assembly elections last year, decided to pursue the project. The coastal road is part of the Rs 60,000-crore transport infrastructure projects being undertaken by the state  government. The Centre had demanded legal safeguards to prevent land sharks from exploiting the reclaimed land. The state government has made clear the reclaimed land would not be used for commercial  purpose.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had prepared a project plan. Fadnavis said the government had no objection to the project being implemented by the civic body.

Fadnavis recently announced the coastal road project would be completed in two years of construction.