DP 2034 to be modified in order to facilitate land acquisition for coastal road
MUMBAI: After a diktat by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Development Plan (DP) department of the BMC on Saturday issued a notice to modify the DP 2034 to make a provision for a coastal road from Versova to Dahisar. The stretches from Versova to Dahisar and Dahisar to Bhayandar are being carried out by the BMC. Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis speaks during the two-day National Conference of Estimates Committees of Parliament and State/UT Legislative Bodies, at Vidhan Bhavan, in Mumbai, Monday, June 23, 2025. (PTI Photo/Shashank Parade)(PTI06_23_2025_000115A) (PTI)
On Friday, when Fadnavis took a review of the coastal road, officers implementing the project said that land acquisition would be difficult if the areas were not marked. Since the government wants the BMC to start the work in August 2025, it asked for immediate changes to the DP. 'The CM told us to issue the notice immediately,' said a senior officer of the DP department.
Once the reservation is changed, acquisition will become easier, said officers. Accordingly, some plots in Pahadi village, Goregaon, and others in Borivali, Eksar and Dahisar will be now reserved for the coastal road. The project will require 164 hectares of land—of this 61.5% is BMC land, 10% belongs to the state government while the rest is private land.
Fadnavis has asked the collectors of Mumbai Suburban and Thane district to give advance possession of the government land required for the project so that construction can start. One MHADA layout at Aram Nagar and one building of the Central Institute of Fisheries Education, both in Andheri, will have to be acquired for this. The BMC will have to kill a large number of mangroves, and the compensatory afforestation will be done in Chandrapur district.
The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority has already given clearance to the project, but the Forest Right Committee of the Mumbai suburban district is yet to do so. This committee, formed to protect the rights of forest dwellers under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 , plays a role in cases where forest land is proposed for diversion for non-forest purposes.
The work between Versova and Dahisar will be done in six phases while the Dahisar-Bhayandar road construction will be a separate one. The alignment of the road is still to be finalised on the DP.
The chief minister has ordered work on the coastal road to begin by August 2025 and mandated that the Versova-Dahisar stretch be completed by December 2028. The entire project will cost ₹ 22,000 crore.
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