Shinde pitches for six-acre eastern seafront on Mumbai port trust land

The proposed seafront on the eastern waterfront in South Mumbai will be on the lines of the iconic Marine Drive. Significantly, a plan to develop 500 acres of MbPT’s idle land, which includes a financial centre, a new seafront with a promenade, open spaces and mass transport projects has not made much progress in the past five years

MUMBAI: Chief minister Eknath Shinde, in his presentation at the Niti Aayog meeting in Delhi on Saturday, pushed for a seafront on six acres of the central government-controlled Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) land as part of the city’s beautification plan. He also pitched a Metro ring route in Thane apart from a Mumbai-Nashik semi-high-speed railway and a Karad-Chiplun railway. The ninth governing council meeting of Niti Aayog was chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi.

Mumbai, India - July 20, 2014: Sewri, Mumbai, India on Sunday, July 20, 2014. (Photo by Kalpak Pathak / Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

The proposed seafront on the eastern waterfront in South Mumbai will be on the lines of the iconic Marine Drive. Significantly, a plan to develop 500 acres of MbPT’s idle land, which includes a financial centre, a new seafront with a promenade, open spaces and mass transport projects has not made much progress in the past five years. Shinde has now sought a small part of the same land for a new waterfront.

The chief minister also demanded central government assistance for various other infrastructure, railway, and water supply schemes. The 19-km Thane ring metro, with a projected cost of ₹14,000 crore, has been pending central government approval for over three years. Shinde sought approval for this, apart from the expediting of the Nashik-Pune semi-high-speed railway and the Karad-Chiplun railway project which have already been approved.

“Many housing schemes are being implemented for old and dilapidated buildings in MMR, and it is Asia’s largest brownfield project,” the CM is said to have stated. “The government has undertaken the redevelopment of these buildings, and it will ensure the availability of 200,000 tenements. We have also the planned the Konkan Coastal Road and Konkan Green Field Expressway, which will prove a game changer for the coastal belt.”

Shinde also lobbied for the shifting of airport radars in Andheri and Dahisar to facilitate the redevelopment of old buildings in the airport funnel zone.

After the meeting, Shinde told media persons that Modi had “reacted positively” to the demands. “Maharashtra is going to contribute immensely to Modi’s Viksit Bharat 2047 and the $5-trillion dollar economy by 2027,” he said. “Niti Aayog is of the opinion that Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region have the potential of achieving Maharashtra’s goal of a $1-trillion economy by 2027. We have sought central assistance in various projects, including the Marathwada water grid and diversion of Koyna Dam water to Marathwada.”

The Marathwada water grid project for eight districts of central Maharashtra aims to divert the 167 TMC of Konkan river water that flows into the Arabian Sea. “Some of this can be blocked and lifted to release in the Godavari basin and made available for Marathwada,” he said at the meeting. “The Centre should speed up the funding.”

Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora said that Shinde had always expressed his interest in the MbPT land for various projects ranging from protecting residential and commercial tenants to waterfront development to the Kanhoji Angre tourism project.

What is the eastern waterfront project?

The Mumbai Port Trust aims to develop 500 hectares of its idle land for a project that encompasses housing, educational amenities and the development of an eastern seafront for tourism by creating marinas, promenades, public parks and cycling tracks. Consultants have been appointed to draft the master plan.

The draft masterplan also proposes a new financial centre, a government office, hotels, and commercial and residential properties in close proximity to the proposed metro line and the existing suburban railway stations.