Environment Ministry has given in-principle approval to the ambitious coastal road project in Mumbai which will help decongesting traffic in the financial capital and create 91 hectares of green space.
"We have given in-principle approval to coastal road project in Mumbai today. The process will be completed soon and we will come out with a draft notification at the earliest," Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters here after meeting Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today.
The 35km-long coastal road project between Nariman Point and Kandivali in north Mumbai was conceived by the previous Congress-NCP government after it decided to drop the extension of Bandra-Worli sea link project up to Haji Ali.
On June 6, Maharashtra government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of the Netherlands for obtaining technical advice on feasibility of building Metro track along the proposed coastal road connecting north and south Mumbai.
The Environment Minister said his Ministry wanted to ensure three things for the project, important in which was minimal reclamation of land for the project and no commercial activity on that.
"We were in a discussion with the state government and we wanted to ensure three things. Reclamation of land will be minimal. On that reclaimed land, there will be no commercial activity. It will be opened to public," Javadekar said.
The decision comes after both Javadekar and Fadnavis held a meeting which lasted for more than an hour.
"We discussed these and when both of us agreed, then the approval was given," Javadekar said.
Fadnavis also thanked Javadekar for approving the project and termed it as the "best gift" of Narendra Modi government to Mumbai.
"Thank you @PrakashJavdekarjee for approving coastal road for Mumbai. It's a dream come true. Best gift to Mumbai by Modiji's govt," Fadnavis tweeted after meeting Javadekar.
"Coastal road will decongest the traffic of Mumbai and will create 91 hectares of green spaces, taking Mumbai infra to the next standard. Earlier govt was talking about coastal road for 5yrs. I'd promised Mumbai that will get it approved in 5 months," he said.
"Happy it took even lesser time. Timeline of Mumbai coastal road clearance. Draft Notification by 15th June. Final notification by 15th August," the Chief Minister said in series of tweets.
