Elevated forest walkway at Mumbai’s Malabar Hill to be opened to public tomorrow
To control the crowd, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will charge visitors an entry fee of Rs 25, while foreign citizens will be charged Rs 100.
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The walkway deck is made of wood and the entire structure is constructed with minimum usage of concrete to ensure that the natural flow of water through the hill slopes is not interrupted and wildlife movement is unaffected. (Express Photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)The much-anticipated forest walkway in Mumbai’s Malabar Hill is set to be opened to the public on Sunday morning.
The walkway, inspired by Singapore’s popular elevated ‘nature trails’, will be inaugurated by state Cabinet minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha who is also the MLA from Malabar Hill. It will extend from Kamala Nehru Park to the woods of Doongerwadi.
The walkway deck is made of wood and the entire structure is constructed with minimum usage of concrete to ensure that the natural flow of water through the hill slopes is not interrupted and wildlife movement is unaffected.
The entry and exit points of the trail will be at Siri Road, right behind Kamala Nehru Park, from where it will extend up to 705 metres, traversing through the Malabar Hill forest and providing an unhindered view of the Arabian Sea. The walkway will also have a birdwatching zone and a glass-bottom viewing deck.
Meanwhile, to control the crowd, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will charge visitors an entry fee of Rs 25, while foreign citizens will be charged Rs 100. The civic authorities will also prohibit carrying food items on the trail, considering the presence of monkeys in the forest.
Tender for the project was awarded in 2021 for Rs 22 crore, and civil works began in 2022. Considering that Malabar Hill is a silent zone, construction work could be taken up only during limited hours in the day and, as a result, the project took nearly three years to complete.
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