Greens want transharbour link realigned to save birds

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is not keen on acceding to the environmentalists’ demand of realigning the 22-km Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) which will connect Sewri to Nhava Sheva in Navi Mumbai.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is not keen on acceding to the environmentalists’ demand of realigning the 22-km Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) which will connect Sewri to Nhava Sheva in Navi Mumbai.

HT Image

They are opposing the Rs8,800 crore sea link project on the grounds that it will cut through Sewri and Mahul mudflats which are home to migratory birds, including the pink-feathered flamingos.

“It would be difficult for us to change the alignment of the bridge, but we will hold discussions with the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) to reach a common ground to save the flamingos’ habitat,” Rahul Asthana, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA to HT on Wednesday.

Asad Rehmani, director of BNHS, said that the MMRDA is delaying the plan to realign the MTHL project 700m south from its original location.

This move can can save the habitat of migratory birds and the mudflats ecosystem.

The bridge will pass through the mudflats at Sewri, which the BNHS feels will impact the habitat of 150 bird species and 15,000 flamingos that migrate from Gujarat every year.

The Sewri mudflats have been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA), and apart from the flamingos, they also witness migration of about a lakh birds of different species, said Rehmani.

The Sewri mudflats attract large crowds who come to watch flamingos, waders and sandpipers.

In April, 15,000 people visited the site on a single day.

“We are not opposed to the project, but if the MMRDA sticks to its present design, it will drive away the birds and also impact the fragile mudflats eco-system,” said Rehmani.

“Mumbai will lose a potential hotspot for eco-tourism,” he added. The BNHS has endorsed an alternate design for the MTHL prepared by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

The MMRDA had conducted the first Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for MTHL in 1996. It conducted a second EIA in 2005.

Now, a consortium comprising Arup Consulting Engineers and KPMG is conducting a third EIA, said a MMRDA official.

This EIA will be sent to the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) for approval.

“We will apply for the environmental clearance by the end of December,” Asthana said.

The BNHS hopes this assessment will weigh the issue. “We doubt if the earlier EIAs considered the issue of bird habitat at all,” said Deepak Apte, deputy director, BNHS.