Centre okays Coastal Road but environmentalists oppose

Mumbai: The 35km Coastal Road (CR) proposed to ease Mumbai’s traffic woes got a boost with the Central Government issuing a final notification for its construction, but the project is being stoutly opposed by environmentalists, activists and the city’s fishing community.

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, which on Wednesday issued a final notification to allow reclamation for a coastal road, had published a draft notification in June amending the provisions of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), to hasten the Maharashtra government’s ambitious project in Mumbai. This means that land can be reclaimed from the sea without altering the high-tide line although mangroves destroyed for the project would have to be replanted. The project involves coastal freeway with tunnels, a section of the road going over the sea, bridges as well as roads on stilts.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who has been keen on the CR project take off as early as possible, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and tweeted, “It’s a dream come true for Mumbaikars.”

With the notification, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which will implement the project, will start the tendering process and will have to then submit the environment impact assessment report to the state and centre.

The CR was mooted by the previous Congress-led government to connect the business hub of Nariman Point in south Mumbai to Kandivili in the western suburbs where traffic is chock-a-block mostof the day and a nightmare during peak hours.

But will this exorbitantly priced Rs120 billion (Dh6.6 billion) or more project really help Mumbaikars and take the traffic pressure off the existing arterial roads, ask Nicholas Almeida and Godfrey Pimenta of Watchdog Foundation.

According to them, the CR will benefit only 6 per cent of the population that travels by cars while the rest of the people primarily depend on public transport. “The CR will only encourage more and more people to take out their cars on the road,” they say and ask, “Where is the parking facility for such additional number of cars which will only grow in numbers in future in absence of mass public transport system which is reliable?”

Several groups and environmental experts are fighting against this project and Stalin D (director, projects) of Vanashakti, a non-profit environmental NGO, calls this decision of the government as “non-application of mind” and says the notification is “illegal.” He wonders how the government is planning to reclaim over 40 hetres and yet say the environment will not be altered.

Stalin says, “There are cheaper alternatives to easing the problem of transport in the city. The CR is a needless adventure that threatens the very concept of shoreline conservation. At a time when the state-run B.E.S.T. services are incurring losses due to reduced passenger load, it is absolutely the need of the hour to improve it and make it more comfortable and affordable.” He believes this will reduce the load on the roads.

The fishing community is upset that the government did not take it into confidence before announcing this project in spite of the fact that it will directly affect it.