Mumbai coastal road project stalled.

The Rs. 12,000 crore coastal road project of connecting South Mumbai with the Western Suburbs could get stalled due to litigations. Environmentalists are planning to approach courts and National Green Tribunal over perceived threats of flooding due to mangroves destruction. In an effort to resolve the traffic congestion, the Maharashtra Government is planning to connect Nariman Point to Kandivali with a 35.6 km coastal highway comprising of roads built on reclaimed land, bridges and tunnels, on western coast of Mumbai. A similar project of the State Government, the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL), which connects Bandra in the Western Suburbs of Mumbai with Worli in the Island city ran into major court cases due to environmental concerns. The project was delayed by five years. The environmentalist fear that large-scale culling of mangroves and reclamation for the coastal road project will adversely affect the stormwater outflow. The chances of flooding of roads and rail lines during the monsoon season could increase significantly. Environmentalist Girish Raut, who is also trained as a lawyer, said that a public interest litigation asking the courts to cancel the project could be soon filed. Another environmental action group is in the process of filing court papers. Secretary of the group requesting anonymity said that sector experts assisting the group have carried out a detail hydrological study of Mumbai. It is their studied opinion that any kind of further land reclamation around the coast will prevent proper discharge of rainwater into the sea. Raut said that the coastal road is meant for the motorist, who are a not a significant percentage of Mumbai�s commuters. The city needs a mass transport system and not a road based solution. When the BWSL was constructed it leads to massive destruction of coastal habitat. One of the factors, which lead to July 26, 2005, Mumbai Flood was the reclamation at the mouth of Mahim bay for BWSL project. The floodwaters, which were carried by the Mithi river towards the bay, simply could not empty itself into the sea, he said. "I fear a similar problem will repeat all over the Western coast of Mumbai, whose impact would be catastrophic," Raut said.