Mumbai: Extension of Girgaum chowpatty on cards

Weekend revelers wishing to visit the Girgaum Chowpatty may be in for a pleasant respite from crowd and noise as the state government is looking at increasing the breadth of the beach into the sea by about 50 meters. The project is a part of the larger Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded Sustainable Coastal Protection and Management Investment Programme (SCPMIP), to be completed by December 2019. The project aims at controlling erosion at vulnerable spots, such as beaches and sea shores, due to tidal waves and currents.

Nearly Rs 200 crore component at Chowpatty will see the beach being extended further south on the iconic Queen's Necklace till the Marine Drive flyover and replace the ungainly tetrapods and rocks on the stretch. It will create a 1 km longer and 200 m wider beach with a sand retention structure and offshore reef, covering a third of the Marine Drive. There are plans to put up groynes to protect the artificial beach for public private partnership (PPP) solutions, such as a jetty for vessels travelling to the proposed statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Arabian sea or for yachts and boats.

Senior officials of the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB), which is executing the project, told dna that they planned to extend the breadth of the existing beach to a uniform average of 200 m from the present width of around 150 m to create more capacity for tourists and revellers. "The beach is dynamic. It can extend or reduce according to the season. But it will be extended, on an average, 200 m (in breadth)," said Jitendra Raisinghani, deputy director, Co-ordination, Asian Development Bank Project.

A multi-purpose groyne will be put up at the southern end of the proposed beach as a sand retention structure, to hold the sand and prevent erosion in the sediment cell. An artificial reef will be created in the sea using tetrapods from the beach for protection and to ensure that the waters remain calm. Raisinghani said the groyne could be used for multiple options, such as walkways, a viewing deck, restaurants, jetty or much-needed parking for visitors and tourists. "The jetty can be used for boats to ferry people to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's statue," he added. The extended beach can also be used for water sports activities, such as sailing and surfing.

Atul Patne, MMB chief executive officer (CEO) said the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), under whose jurisdiction the beach falls, was eager for the project to start and had requested the MMB for economic aid to execute it. Raisinghani said they planned to provide access to visitors on the extended beach on the southern end of Chowpattty through ramps. Bushes and plantations can be used to hold sand, and sand dunes that taper and expand into the beach will be erected. These dunes will act as protection against waves lashing the beach and the promenade.

Work on the Marine Drive project is expected to start in two years and will be completed in two working seasons. Officials said they would undertake the work till the flyover in the first phase, and then consider extending the beach to the southernmost tip of Marine Drive after evaluating factors such as the possibility of litigation and sand availability. Reclamation at Marine Drive will be done via sea with barges ferrying sand to prevent an impact on road traffic.