MCAP silent on project’s impact on coast: Environmentalists

A pet project of the Sena-led state government and the BMC, the coastal road project that is being constructed on reclaimed land from the sea has been criticised by experts and environmentalists for possible damage to the coastal ecosystem.

However, the MCAP is silent on the project’s impact on the city’s coastline and mitigation measures. The corporation is constructing a 10.58-km coastal road starting from Princess Street Flyover at Marine Lines to the Worli end of Bandra-Worli Sea Link for easing out the traffic on south to north Mumbai on the west coast.

The project has been in question as the BMC had acknowledged earlier reports of rising sea levels, which could lead to the submergence of 80 per cent of south Mumbai by 2050. In August 2021, during the launch of MCAP, Municipal Commissioner I S Chahal had said that about 80 per cent area of Nariman Point, Mantralaya and about 70 per cent area of Churchgate, Girgaon, Charni Road will be submerged due to the rise in sea level.

The city’s climate action document that was released on March 13 that set an ambitious target of achieving ‘net zero’ status by 2050, states that the city faces three distinct risks — increasing heat and heat island effect, increasing flood risk because of sea-level rise and due to extreme rainfall events, tropical cyclones and storm surges and increasing air pollution affecting human health.

Architect Shweta Wagh said that the MCAP failed to consider the IPCC report’s comment on the coastal road.

“In MCAP, there is not even a mention of a coastal road project. I think there seems to be a serious kind of disconnect between the objectives of the plan and what they are trying to do. Also, Environment Minister (Aaditya Thackeray) has repackaged or reframed the whole coastal road project as a climate-resilient project. With this somehow, he is trying to conceal the real impact of the project,” said Wagh, who has been fighting for fishermen that are affected due to the coastal road work.

Environmentalist Debi Goenka said that due to coastal road project, south Mumbai is already facing flood during the monsoon. “The municipal commissioner is on record saying that 80 per cent of south Mumbai will be submerged by 2050. Because of the coastal road, south Mumbai started witnessing flooding, which was not the case earlier. It is making matters worse in terms of climate change,” said Goenka.

Anthropologist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Nikhil Anand praised the MCAP but warned about the impact of coastal road impact. “The MCAP has some excellent suggestions for adapting the city for extreme rain events that are the new normal. These include making the city more permeable, protecting the existing green, blue cover, and expanding green transport infrastructure. The coastal road supports none of these priorities. It makes extant intertidal regions less permeable to provide additional space for cars at great expense,” said Anand.

Last week, during the unveiling of MCAP Commissioner Chahal, said that the coastal road project will help in reducing carbon footprint.

Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray did not respond to messages. However, on the day of the unveiling of the MCAP, Thackeray had said that the IPCC report had said that they did not consider the works done in last two years for the mitigations and the project will help in reducing carbon emission.

“The MCAP was finalised even before the IPCC report was released and the coastal road project was mentioned. But there is scope of adding new things in the report as updating greenhouse gas will take in every two years while MCAP will be updated in every five years,” an official from Aaditya’s office said.