Monumental mistake in the making

The cat is out of the bag regarding the controversial Shivaji statue in the bay off Marine Drive, with the state government rushing ahead with a design before state elections are announced. While the outlandish design itself is questionable — it has been conjured up by a city architects’ firm partnering Bangkok resort and landscape architects —  even more disturbing are the uses to which the Rs 200 crore complex is going to be put.

To defray the costs of construction (not least, the reclamation of 800 acres from the sea bed), the state government intends to cater to up to 10,000 visitors a day who will frequent a 10,000-sq ft revolving restaurant, viewing gallery, a 300-seat  auditorium, art galleries, food courts and “green areas”, among other delights. Apparently, the Mumbai-Thai designers imagine that sculpting some lawns in this bay is environment-friendly.

How will these few thousand visitors access the complex, a kilometre off the shore? By hovercraft, no less. Where will they park, on a main artery for north-south traffic? Once the complex is built, will the government press for reclaiming additional acres near the shore for parking?   While the 159-ft Shivaji statue — four feet taller than the Statue of Liberty off New York, as the promoters exultantly announce —  atop a 150-ft-high pedestal has been planned to pander to regional pride, will the aam aadmi afford the hovercraft fare, much less a seat in the revolving restaurant?

Marine Drive is one of Mumbai’s iconic landscapes, with Art Deco buildings which are rivalled only by Miami. It is referred to as the Queen’s Necklace, with its glitter at night. Anyone who has any concern for the environment will know that the bay’s natural vista is best left untouched. Reclamation at the southern tip of Backbay — the island city has the highest proportion of such land in any city in the world —  has had its impact on the seashore northwards. The beach at Chaitya Bhoomi in Dadar, where lakhs pay tribute to BR Ambedkar, has been severely eroded, as has Versova. And the complex will certainly attract the provisions of the Coastal Regulation Zone, which forbids any such reclamation.
The government is surely aware that a similar revolving restaurant (why the fascination for this old-fangled contraption?) and viewing galley was planned atop the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, but given up for reasons of security. What factors operate in the bay off Marine Drive which aren’t present in the Mahim bay? And the compulsion to build monuments which outdo others in the world seems difficult to shake off. There was a 160-foot Mumbai Eye, inspired by its London counterpart, contemplated at Bandra’s Land’s End which has fortunately been shelved. If completed, it would have afforded at that height a 90-degree unrestricted view of the slums of Dharavi.

Not to be outdone, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority had wanted to erect a Rs 4,128 crore 101-storey “iconic tower” at Wadala, a nondescript eastern suburb. At 1,725 ft, this was scheduled to be the world’s third tallest, after Burj Dubai and Freedom Tower in New York. The fact that it wanted to attract well-heeled purchasers for these posh apartments, with a panoramic view of the desolate docklands, when the entire world was reeling under recession, appears to have been lost on the city’s apex planning agency. The Burj Dubai complex, whose offshore construction technology will be employed for the Shivaji monument foundations, has itself ground to a halt.

If the Shivaji site is allowed to go through in its present form, it will amount to diverting public funds to create an amusement complex (note the credentials of the Thai architects) which will pander to the rich. The entire cost will exceed Rs 200 crore. This is ironic in a state which is in the grip of drought.