‘₹360-cr SoBo marina will deprive 22 million of open waterfront’

With less than one square-metre per capita of public open space accessible and abysmal options for decent affordable housing in the city, the average Mumbaiite was

With less than one square-metre per capita of public open space accessible and abysmal options for decent affordable housing in the city, the average Mumbaiite was beginning to see some hope when Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) in 2018 announced the opening up of more than 200 hectares of land along the eastern waterfront to the public, on nearly the same scale as the mill lands.

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However, it seems this hope may remain short-lived as MbPT unravelled their grand plans of building a 9-hectare marina on public land at Princess Docks for the uber-rich to park 300 private yachts. To add to this, the government will pump in ₹360 crores of public money to facilitate this private amenity and the million-dollar yacht owners will be able to park their luxury boats for a few thousand rupees every year, as compared to 3,000 euros per night in many parts of Europe!

This proposal caters to neither the shipping industry, nor tourism. Simply put, taxpayers will pay through their noses to support the extravagant lifestyles of the uber-rich. This is similar to what happened two decades ago when the government’s plans to open up the mill lands for public open spaces never fructified. The mill lands were happily passed onto commercial developers and today, they house high-end flats, luxury retail spaces and fine-dining restaurants. The redevelopment of these lands did not make any difference to the living conditions of the average Mumbaiite who continues to lead a deprived quality of life, facing stampede-like situations every day.

One begs the question then — who is this proposal serving? How is this ₹360-crore marina going to alleviate the issues of depleted amenities, affordable housing and public open space in Mumbai?

Civil society organisations and urban institutions have been constantly engaging with MbPT, which has been kind enough to listen to our several pleas to address the housing situation, create the much required public open spaces and provide east-west connectivity with Mumbai’s hinterlands through this land. However, despite submitting several written objections, we have been unable to dissuade them from building this marina.

Very simple calculations suggest that the government plans to spend ₹1.2 crore of public money on each yacht, in addition to giving away 9 hectares of prime public land — all of these without any convincing plans to recover the investment. This proposal means that MbPT, which is already in debt, will dig itself a deeper hole by handing over public assets to private players. Ironically, MbPT spent a few hundred crores of public money only 10 years ago to reclaim the same 9 hectares for container storage, and now it proposes to dig it out.

The government needs to answer some pertinent questions before it recklessly gives up our land, assets and taxpayers’ monies. In a democratic setting, who proposes and approves projects where the rich are subsidised by the poor through unscrupulous distribution of public assets and funds? Shrewdly touted as a public-private partnership (PPP), this project is designed to fail from day one as the government will charge ridiculously low tariffs in return for hefty investments.

Is the government giving us a guarantee that this will not be the case? How sustainable is this plan where the government proposes to use prime real estate in South Mumbai for parking boats when it could house work places and housing for a conservative figure of 25,000 people with commensurate open spaces and amenities? Are we ready to forsake the rights and quality of life of 22 million people?

Pankaj Joshi is the executive director of Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI).