CIDCO ‘wriggles’ out of Nerul CRZ plot sale, cites poor response

Navi Mumbai: The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has cancelled the tender process of the controversial plot at Nerul, which environmentalists said falls in the Coastal regulation Zone1 (CRZ1)

Navi Mumbai: The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has cancelled the tender process of the controversial plot at Nerul, which environmentalists said falls in the Coastal regulation Zone1 (CRZ1).

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CIDCO informed the Western Zonal bench of the National Green Tribunal that the auction was cancelled as the bidding offer received for the 25,138.86 square meters plot at Sectors 54-56-58 was “far below” the prevailing market rate.

Navi Mumbai Environment Preservation Society (NMEPS) and a group of citizens, in separate petitions before NGT, had earlier challenged the tender process on the ground that the plot falls within CRZ1.

A thick patch of mangroves is located in proximity to the plot and, in fact, a part of the land is located within the mangrove buffer zone, said the joint application by Rekha Sankhala, Manmeet Singh Khurana, Ritu Mittal, R K Narayan, Mahendra Singh Panghaal and Anjali Agarwal.

NMEPS, which also challenged the tender, said the plot is designated as a “No Development Zone” under the Development Plans of 2011 and 2020 and it falls on the seaward side of the existing road.

NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar, who had first raised the red flag against the plot sale, said, “It is a big face-saving trick by CIDCO. Citing poor response, it has wriggled out of the situation it was in.”

He added, “One has to keep a watch on CDCO since its credentials with regards to environmental care are always doubtful. CIDCO has allotted a mangrove zone plot to Tirupati Balaji Mandir and a CRZ1 area to Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s super specialty hospital.”

CIDCO has now given an undertaking to NGT that it would ensure in the retendering process that the 50 mtr buffer zone from the CRZ as delineated by the competent authority.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) has also filed an affidavit with NGT affirming that the disputed plot partly falls under CRZ1 and some part in CRZ-ll.

In a fresh development, the MCZMA as well as the Environment Department have informed the Tribunal that CIDCO ought to obtain the CRZ map from the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Anna University, Chennai in 1:4000 scale.

The NCSCM raised a cost estimate of ₹4.5 lakh for the exercise, which CIDCO has to pay.

The NGT- consisting of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh as judicial member and, Dr Vijay Kulkarni, expert member - has directed CIDCO to pay the amount within a week and get the CRZ map process completed. The Tribunal directed CIDCO to submit a report to it on the mapping and also not to initiate the retender process till the CRZ map is prepared. The final hearing is fixed for March 2.

A CIDCO official confirmed the development but refused to make any comment.

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The tenders

The plot, in the neighbourhood of the posh NRI Seawoods Estates and the newly-built water taxi jetty, had received a price of – ₹ 1.51 lakhs a sq mtr quoted by Bhagwati Empire.

In comparison, Matrix Superstructures emerged the top bidder for the remaining four plots in Nerul itself quoting ₹3.85 lk/sq mtr for a 3,060 sq mtr plot, ₹ 3.77 lk/sq mtr for a 2,029 sq mtr plot, ₹ 3.42 lk/sq mtr for 1,889 sq mtr land and ₹ 3.28 lk/sqm tr for 1,221 sq mtr piece.

Thus, the NRI area plot did not fetch the market-anticipated amount of ₹ 750 crores, going by the price of ₹ 3 lakh received for a plot at Ghansoli earlier.