Fate of Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR), one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), will be decided in the National Wildlife Board (NWB) meeting to be held on February 25. The project involves building twin tunnels of six lanes under the Sanjay Gandhi National Park for which the civic body needs approval from NWB.
Fate of Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR), one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), will be decided in the National Wildlife Board (NWB) meeting to be held on February 25. The project involves building twin tunnels of six lanes under the Sanjay Gandhi National Park for which the civic body needs approval from NWB.
This will be the fourth east-west link road in the city, the other three being the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR), Andheri-Ghatkopar link road and Jogeshwari-Vikhroli link road. Speaking about the project, a BMC officer said, "The 14-km road will connect Goregaon-Mulund and ease the traffic on JVLR and Ghodbandar road. The approximate cost is Rs 4000 crore."
"We have changed the plan to minimise the effect on wildlife. Both the tunnels will be built underground. With the application of 'force ventilation' technology, there will be no outlets for ventilation above the ground. The forests will remain untouched. Thus, we are confident to get approval from NWB on February 25," said a senior officer from the BMC.
The civic body earlier had approached the environment ministry's Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC). The EAC had asked BMC to conduct Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) study in not less than 12 months. It had even asked for noise and vibration impact study in 2017. However, in a meeting held on April 12, 2018, EAC delisted the project stating that it is only a Development Plan Road of the BMC and is not a part of the state or national highway.
On January 10, 2019, the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) had given clearance to divert around 216 hectare forest and non-forest land around Creek Flamingo Wildlife Sanctuary in Thane, SGNP in Borivali and Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Vasai for the project.
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