While fishermen and environmentalists have been opposing coastal road project, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has now has informed the Supreme Court through an affidavit that it wants to reclaim an additional six hectares of land from the sea for the project.
According to a report by Loksatta, the civic body submitted an affidavit on August 28 and informed the Supreme Court that the original estimated reclamation for the project was supposed to be 90 hectares, it will have to reclaim a total of 96 hectares now. The BMC has so far reclaimed 52.35 hectares and another 44.16 hectares were yet to be reclaimed.
In the affidavit, the BMC has stated it has the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance for reclamation of 90 hectares for the project. The affidavit states that the additional reclamation would be required for construction of partially submerged sea wall for protecting the road from wave impact, floods and erosion.
The ambitious Rs 14,000-crore coastal road project, proposed to connect south Mumbai with north western suburbs of the metropolis, is one of the flagship infrastructure schemes of the Maharashtra government.
The 8-lane and 29.2-km long Mumbai Coastal Road would run along Mumbai's western coastline connecting Marine Lines in the south to Kandivali in the north. The Coastal Road is expected to reduce travel time between South Mumbai and the Western Suburbs.
