Mumbai's Coastal Road And Trans-Harbour Link Cleared, Amongst Other Projects

Earlier last week, the Maharashtra government announced its decision to adopt Delhi's odd-even plan in Mumbai if it proved to be successful in Delhi. However, as many critics of the odd-even plan pointed out, the policy could prove to be futile if there first aren't enough public transportation facilities in place to bear the rise in commuters.

Though the monorail corridor is yet to be opened, Central and Harbour lines await upgrade, and work on several Metro projects is yet to begin, recent reports suggests that at least four major infrastructure projects have been cleared and are about to take off.

First is the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), which was conceived over two decades ago. A six-lane bridge, it will stretch 16 kilometres over the sea and six kilometres on land, connecting South Mumbai with Navi Mumbai and is estimated to cost over Rs. 17,000 crore.

Once complete, the project is likely to benefit over 20 million residents who regularly commute between the two areas. The tenders for the project are expected by March-April 2016 and the Japanese Agency for International Cooperation (JAICA) is believed to be the main funding agency for this project.

The second project that is expected to take off this year is the coastal road that will connect South Mumbai to Kandivali. The 35.6 km-long road project has been on halt for the past five years thanks to opposition from environmentalists, since it will be built over reclaimed land. However, last November the Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, met with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss the project and the meeting seemed to have ended on a positive note, as soon after, the Ministry of Environment and Forests gave their approval for the project. However, the reclaimed land will not be used for residential purposes. The project is estimated to cost Rs 13,000 crore.