New Delhi : In a big relief to Mumbai, the Environment and Forests Ministry on Monday decided to relax the 1991 CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zone) notification in the metropolis to allow a 35-km long coastal ring road for decongesting vehicular traffic and permit reconstructions hitherto not allowed in the coastal areas, though with a rider that the construction line should not encroach further towards the sea.
This was announced by its minister at a Press conference held here to spell out achievements of the ministry in the last one year. He said a draft notification for allowing repairs and reconstructions in will be issued on Tuesday. He, however, made it clear that no commercial activities, however, will be permitted in the areas falling under the CRZ notification as the land can be used only for public use.
He granted clearance to the coastal road during his meeting here on Monday with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who tweeted it as the “best gift to Mumbai” by the Modi government. Fadnavis tweeted: “Coastal road will decongest the traffic of Mumbai & will create 91 hectares of green spaces. Taking Mumbai infra to next standard.”
The coastal road will start from Nariman Point near the Manora MLAs Hostel, will go underground at the NCPA to Napean Sea Road and go on along the west coast of the city up to Kandivali.
Fadnavis pointed out that though the previous Congress-NCP government had talked about the project for five years, the NDA government had cleared the project in less than five months. He said a draft notification for the project will be issued by June 15 and a final notification by August 15. He thanked Prime Minister Modi and Javadekar for the speedy clearances.
The Central approval comes after Maharashtra signed an MoU with the Dutch government on Saturday to use its expertise in the project to build the coastal road from Nariman Point in South Mumbai to Versova in the western suburbs, at an estimated cost of Rs 9,000 crore. Apart from cutting short travel time, the project will also provide protection to Mumbai against the rising sea levels.
