Upscale Nepean Sea Road stretch to get a makeover
BMC to team up with Nepean Sea Road residents to improve the vicinity; highlight of the plan is utilising public spaces effectively, by improving footpaths, identifying hawking zones and providing parking solutions.
Mumbai: The 2.7-kilometre stretch on Nepean Sea Road -- from St Stephen’s Catholic Church to Kamdhenu Lane – has been used as a model to craft a proposal for an improvement plan by the Nepean Sea Road Residents’ Forum (NSRRF) and presented to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) recently.

The highlight of the plan is utilising public spaces effectively, by improving footpaths, identifying hawking zones and providing parking solutions. Architects, who are members of the residents’ forum, have chalked out a comprehensive design to improve the footpaths so that pedestrians and motorists can use the space without getting in the way of each other.
Rahul Kadri, chairman of NSRRF, along with other members, presented the 10-point improvement plan for the footpath to D-Ward’s assistant commissioner, Sharad Ughade, last week. Ughade has consented to incorporating the inputs in the neighbourhood’s improvement plan.
Kadri, a practising architect and owner of Kadri Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, has designed the plan. He has proposed constructing a one level footpath along the stretch, from Embassy Apartments to Happy Home Building.
“We will ensure that all junctions have enough space allocated for pedestrians to cross a road where cars will slow down; which means all the junctions will be realigned. Separate bus bays will be created to avoid chaotic traffic in the middle of the road,” said Kadri, emphasising that there will be enough space in the bays for buses to pull in.
The proposal has also pointed to large stretches of 70-80 metres in front of RBI quarters and other buildings which can be brought into the embrace of public space. “We have suggested to recover those and make little strips of gardens, and incorporate that with footpaths,” he said.
A set of steps from Nepean Sea Road to Alexander Graham Bell Marg is in a state of disrepair, Kadri noted, which will be designed like Mount Mary steps, in Bandra.
Other than footpath improvement, citizens have also identified possibilities for hawking zones and are working towards the implementation of BMC’s on-street parking policy.
In order to achieve an inclusive and holistic development, the forum has also proposed to the civic body that a health clinic be set up on Nepean Sea Road, as “30-40 per cent people live in slums”.
Sharad Ughade, assistant commissioner, D-Ward, said, “Residents do have a comprehensive plan on reclaiming footpaths, parking and attending to neighbourhood issues. We will work with them closely and incorporate their input. They have taken ownership of the spaces in the locality. It is only through active citizen participation that we can improve our city.”
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