Unbuilt vision: Why Mumbai's eastern waterfront dream was so remarkable

Hindustan Times

a day ago

MUMBAI: Broad pavements, lush gardens and a low building footprint aren't features typically associated with Mumbai's urban sprawl. And, yet, a 28-km stretch along the eastern shoreline fringed by a 6.4-km-long promenade promised just that. Designed to give Mumbaiites one of the things they need most, breathing space, the plan envisioned spaces devoted to art, culture and entertainment, among other features rarely seen in this space-starved metropolis. Unbuilt vision: Why Mumbai's eastern waterfront dream was so remarkable
Finalised in 2018, this was the second plan for Mumbai's eastern shoreline, proposed to transform 966.30 hectares of land owned by the MbPA. It has now been virtually shelved by a third plan, one that will see 217 acres of MbPA land leased for industrial and commercial purposes, for up to 30 years. Tenders have been floated and, unlike the earlier two proposals, this one has begun to roll. HT was the first to report on the plan on August 12.
The first proposal for the eastern shoreline was submitted in 2014 by a committee headed by retired bureaucrat Rani Jadhav. It was set aside after it was opposed by citizens' groups. The 2018 plan, prepared by an Ahmedabad-based architectural firm called HCP, founded by Hasmukh C Patel and now led by Dr Bimal Patel, was prepared under the chairmanship of retired bureaucrat Sanjay Bhatia. It was meant to transform the Mumbai port area into a benchmark for port areas in other coastal cities in India.
The third, and current, plan envisages leasing 28 plots on a consolidated area of 217 acres, from Colaba to Wadala, in addition to one plot in Thal near Alibag. By leasing these plots for industrial and commercial purposes, MbPA intends to earn ₹814.04 crore in the first year, with an annual lease escalation of 2%.
The properties to be leased include a 22-hectare plot at Princess Dock near the domestic cruise terminal; a 1.2-lakh sq m plot that once housed an HPCL facility in Wadala; a 42,955-sq m plot that used to have warehouses of the Food Corporation of India in Wadala; the Sewri Timber Pond, a cargo storage yard measuring 1.04 lakh sq m near the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link; and various buildings owned by the MbPA along the city's east coast.
The plan has been criticised for its narrow vision, denying Mumbaiites a world-class waterfront they had been promised. The 2018 master plan included port and sea tourism facilities, with water transport facilities to ease the growing traffic issues of Mumbai. It included water taxis, roll on-roll off services, an international cruise terminal, a domestic cruise terminal, a seaplane service, a marina, a Sewri-Elephanta ropeway, an eco-trail within mangroves and mud flats to spot migratory birds, and a host of other facilities and public amenities.
Apart from tourism, commercial spaces, retail outlets, residential zones and the informal sector were also to be tapped. With South Mumbai having lost its position as the city's central business district, a portion of the port land was to have commercial spaces to claw back corporate offices and to house a government office complex.
Malls and shopping-themed streets similar to Colaba and Bandra's Linking Road were also pitched for retail space.
Residential real estate has been on the decline in the island city and headed towards the suburbs. The 2018 plan aimed to unlock land for residential purposes including staff quarters for government and public undertakings, and to rehabilitate slums.
The holistic eastern waterfront development plan included the informal sector, which plays a crucial role in Mumbai's economy. 'The MbPA proposal was to provide space and spatial instruments to facilitate the informal sector in a planned and desirable manner, not affecting other users of space in any negative way,' the 2018 proposal states. Demand-based vending zones and daily bazaars was part of the proposal.
Once these plans unfolded, the waterfront would accommodate a 2.7-lakh residential population. Unlike most urban areas, the port area would have had an unusually large floating population attracted by commercial, industrial, port operations, tourism and healthcare zones. An estimate for this was 4.9 lakh, according to the plan.
'This was a holistic plan. The idea was to utilise Floor Space Index of all the land parcels towards buildings and then have the remaining land for recreation. One of the plots that the MbPA now intends to lease is where a marina was proposed. I don't know why such a wonderful master plan has been shelved,' said one of the individuals who worked on the master plan.
The grand vision took shape after Nitin Gadkari was appointed ports minister when the NDA government came to power at the centre in 2014. Then, just a year after the proposal was submitted, Gadkari was divested of the ports ministry in a cabinet reshuffle in 2019, and the plan was put on the backburner.
'Both the 2018 master plan and the current one prioritise land monetisation for the port authority over the needs of the city. But the difference is that the 2018 plan had followed at least some public process, whereas this one is devoid of any public process,' said urban researcher and professor Hussain Indorewala.