State panel nod to coastal road project for Mumbai

The 33.20km-long coastal road that will provide an eight-lane link from Nariman Point to Kandivli along the west coast got the state coastal authority’s nod on Wednesday, with certain green riders that the state must comply with.

The 33.20km-long coastal road that will provide an eight-lane link from Nariman Point to Kandivli along the west coast got the state coastal authority’s nod on Wednesday, with certain green riders that the state must comply with.

The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) evaluated the project – opposed by some citizens’ groups and activists – in its last meeting on January 16.

The minutes of this meeting, issued on Wednesday, say the project — a combination of bridges over the sea, elevated roads, reclaimed land and undersea tunnels — will be recommended to the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MOEFCC) for a final go ahead.

This, however, will be subject to the state complying with 11 conditions, including setting aside 2% of the project cost towards restoration and conservation of the mangroves, birds, mudflats.

With the MCZMA nod in hand, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will begin pushing the tendering process, even as it awaits the final ministry nod, said a senior bureaucrat.

In December last year, the central government amended the Coastal Regulatory Zone notification,2011, to allow reclamation of land to build the Rs12,000-crore coastal road, giving an in-principle go ahead to a project that has been pending for the past four years.