The Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) has dropped plans for artificially nourishing the iconic Girgaum Chowpatty beach and extending it further at Marine Drive.
Under the Rs 200-crore project, the beach was to be extended further south on the Queen's Necklace till the Marine Drive flyover with the ungainly tetrapods and rocks on the stretch being replaced. It would have created a beach about 1 km longer and 200 metre wider, with a sand retention structure and offshore reef, covering a third of the Marine Drive. Apart from the beach nourishment, a groyne to hold the sand and artificial reef was to be installed.
"We have decided to drop the plan as the stretch comes under the jurisdiction of Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT). We have doubts about the economic feasibility and monetisation of the project. We are planning to take up work on other sites like the Mahim-Dadar beaches," a senior MMB official told DNA.
The project was to be executed under the larger Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded Sustainable Coastal Protection and Management Investment Program (SCPMIP) to control erosion at vulnerable spots like beaches and sea-shores due to tidal waves and currents.
Officials said the other challenge for the project would be the undersea communication cables on the stretch, which would've forced them to realign the design and shorten the length of the proposed beach, and the availability of high-quality sand for the beach nourishment.
Another official said the groyne to be created at the southern end of the beach could have been used for creating a jetty for vessels travelling to the proposed statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Arabian Sea or for yachts and boats.
"There is a high-power committee appointed by the High Court," he noted, adding that there were restrictions on using the beach for development.
The 12 sites selected by the MMB under the SCPMIP for feasibility studies include Marine Drive, Aksa and Juhu beaches and Mahim bay in Mumbai. The MMB plans to develop PPP ideas at each site including watersports, green energy and waste recycling.
Originally made up of seven islands, Mumbai has seen waves of reclamations, both legal and illegal. Most of these projects like the controversial post-Independence Backbay Reclamation scheme real-estate driven. Mumbai's area has increased from 437.37 sq km in 1991 to 482 sq km now due to reclamations and silting by the sea.
Despite pretensions of being an emerging international city, the 'urbs prima in Indis' is woefully short of open spaces. Mumbai has 1,052 open spaces, of which 186 are under adoption, over 700 have been developed and 160 are being taken up by the BMC's garden department.
According to the BMC, with 2,968 hectares of open spaces, Mumbai has per capita open spaces of 2.48 sq meters--lower than global cities like New York. However, the figure dwindles to 0.88 sq meters in some areas since most open spaces are built upon, not in use, or allow only restricted entry.
