‘Environment ministry response on coastal road soon along Mumbai's sea front’

Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday said that the Maharashtra government was keen to build a six-lane coastal road along with a promenade along the city’s sea front and that he had personally met union environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh for allowing them to reclaim land in stretches for the purpose and expected a reply on the issue soon.

Chavan said that the new 2011 CRZ norms allowed them to build a coastal road on stilts, but there was need to reclaim land in certain stretches. “So the final road that would be built would be along stilts, on reclaimed land in certain stretches, subject to approvals,” he said.

Chavan said that under the MUTP, nearly 18,000 families had been rehabilitaed. He said the various infrastructure works in the city, including MUTP and JVLR, were progressing well. The World Bank has sanctioned loan of Rs1,910 crore for MUTP-2, 10 flyover out of 15 would be completed soon, he said. Speaking on the Priyadarshini flyover, he said the project was expected to be complete by August 2011 and that the project to build a road parallel to the railway line between Mumbai and Kalyan had been added to the MUTP project.

He said the new CRZ norms gave scope to 16 of the 20 koliwads in Mumbai. Speaking on the JNNURM, he said five mega cities in the state had been included and that the union government extended the funding for Mumbai for next five years.