2nd phase of Coastal Road Project: State forest department initiates work to survey, cut 45k+ trees in Mumbai’s mangrove forests
Estimated at a cost of Rs. 1.90 crore, the entire process of survey, felling and transportation of mangrove trees is slated to be carried out over a period of 12 months.
A total of 45,675 mangrove trees are poised to face the axe for the upcoming coastal road project which will link Versova to Bhayandar. (File Photo) In a bid to pave the way for the second phase of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project, the state forest department has initiated works to survey, cut and transport mangrove trees sprawled over a marshy, saline land parcel of 103.65 hectares. On Friday, the Mangrove (North Konkan) Division floated a tender for ‘survey, demarcation and execution of Mangrove Tree felling and transportation works’ for diversion of the forest land for the proposed Versova to Bhayandar DP road.
A total of 45,675 mangrove trees are poised to face the axe for the upcoming coastal road project which will link Versova to Bhayandar. Of these, 9,000 mangrove trees will be permanently cut while 36,675 trees will be restored after construction through transplantation. The impacted mangroves have been identified across a total area of 103.65 hectares. Earlier in an order dated December 12, 2025, the Bombay High Court granted permissions to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to construct the high-speed corridor, as it cleared the felling of mangrove trees over the 103.65 hectares of mangrove forest area.
Having procured the Bombay High Court clearances for felling, the Maharashtra Forest department’s Mangrove Division (North Konkan) on Friday invited bidders to carry out survey, demarcation as well as felling of the approved mangrove trees for diversion of 103.65 hectares of forest land. The scope of the project entails establishment of benchmarks of the total impacted mangrove forest land, ground demarcation using total station survey instruments, as well as submission of survey drawings and field records.
Following the survey, the contractor will be tasked with cutting off the approved mangrove trees manually or mechanically under the supervision of the Divisional Forest Officer. Prior to axing, each affected tree will be marked while the tree enumeration records will be maintained.
Besides this, the department has also called for clearance of obstructing “shrubs, acanthus, thorny bushes and surrounding grass” required for safe felling operations without damaging.
The works will be facilitated by deployed skilled and unskilled labour with necessary safety equipment. To ensure access for labourers, the workforce will be charged with creation of temporary access paths. Furthermore, the scope of works also calls for segregation and systematic stacking of the cut mangrove wood at the designed stockyard along with loading, transportation and delivery of mangrove wood to an approved site.
Estimated at a cost of Rs. 1.90 crore, the entire process of survey, felling and transportation of mangrove trees is slated to be carried out over a period of 12 months.
While clearing land for the project, the Bombay High Court directed BMC to carry out compensatory afforestation across land parcels identified in Chandrapur district’s Vihirgaon village as well as plantation of 1.32 lakh mangroves in Bhayandar village. Meanwhile, the 36,935 mangroves poised to be transplanted have been proposed for restoration over an area of 68.55 hectares.
Observing that ‘mangroves act as natural buffer against coastal erosion and flooding’, the Bombay High Court has also directed the BMC to file comprehensive audit reports – for a period of 10 years – of its compensatory plantation, maintenance, and protection of 1.37 lakh mangrove trees in Palghar.
The trees will make way for construction of the next phase of the coastal road project which spans an aggregate distance of 33.40 km between Versova and Bhayandar. Aimed at decongesting the Western Express Highway, Link road and the SV road, the project seeks to cut the current travel time down from 120 minutes to just 18 minutes. Comprising elevated roads, tunnels, cable-stayed bridges and interchanges, the project is estimated at a cost of nearly Rs. 18,200 crore.
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