State-of-the-art research and eco-tourism centre to come up amid Dahisar mangroves

A sprawling nature park planned in Mumbai's Dahisar area, featuring a 'mangrove museum' and a suspended glass bridge, is one step closer to completion. The park is being built amid 200 acres of mangroves and is expected to be awarded construction bids by June-end. Once completed, the park will house a 5,100 square metre nature interpretation centre nestled on the banks of the Gorai Creek and accessible via Link Road or by boat from the Gorai Jetty. The project's success depends heavily on Mumbai's Dahisar River Rejuvenation Project.

Mumbai: Soon, nature lovers will be able to experience immersive eco-tourism in the green lungs of Dahisar. A sprawling nature park planned amid 200 acres of mangroves, proposed by the forest department’s mangrove cell, is one step closer to completion. The construction bids for the park are expected to be awarded by June-end, officials familiar with the matter said.

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Once done, the structure will house a ‘mangrove museum’, and a suspended glass bridge, offering visitors a view of the surrounding wetlands.

It has now been more than four years since 80 hectares of ‘natural area’ lands were reserved for the same in Mumbai’s Development Plan (DP-2034).

‘Natural Area’ is a type of reservation in DCPR for lands that are environmentally sensitive, and where development is restricted.

The project’s centrepiece is a 5,100 square metre, state-of-the-art nature interpretation centre (NIC) nestled on the banks of the Gorai Creek, and will be accessible via Link Road or by boat from the Gorai Jetty.

“It is a strategically placed structure within the dense mangrove forest and won’t be visible unless one reaches the entrance of the NIC. The structure is elevated from the ground and is designed like a skywalk which... gives one the sense of a structure floating above the eye level,” states the forest department’s detailed project report (DPR) for the NIC in Dahisar.

A 400-metre-long ‘mangrove trail’ is also being constructed on stilts, parallel to the high-tide line, and will serve as a pickup point for proposed kayaking excursions into the Gorai Creek and Dahisar River. These will be available to visitors only at high tides, lasting between 60 to 90 minutes. Larger educational tours of around 240 minutes each also also proposed, at a frequency of six slots every day.

Around 400 casual visitors are expected per day, including morning walkers who will be issued monthly passes to use the facility for two hours each day. A new boat-landing centre -- Dahisar Jetty -- has been proposed at the end of the trail, connecting Dahisar Mangrove Park to a similar facility in Gorai (which is waiting to be inaugurated publicly) by boat.

“However, as with our Coastal & Marine Biodiversity Centre in Airoli, the main thrust in Dahisar is to serve as a base for research around mangroves and marine conservation. The Gorai facility is envisioned to be more of a tourist attraction, and construction has been completed. For the Dahisar facility, we have floated tenders and a suitable bidder will be awarded perhaps as soon as June-end,” said SV Ramarao, additional principal chief conservator of forests (APCCF), mangrove cell.

The project’s success, and ability to attract tourists, will depend heavily on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) ₹246-crore Dahisar River Rejuvenation Project, which was kicked off by former environment minister Aaditya Thackeray in December 2021.