Finally, Coastal Road project begins with geotechnical survey.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) recently began the geotechnical survey for the proposed Coastal Road, indicating that the project, till now on paper, had begun to move with barely four months left for civic elections in the State.

Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta, accompanied by Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) Sanjay Mukherjee, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Engineering) Rajeev Kukunoor and Chief Engineer (Coastal Road Project) Mohan Machiwal participated in the geotechnical survey.

As part of the survey, 166 boreholes between 30 and 40 metres in depth will be drilled into a 9.98-km stretch from the south section of the Princess Street flyover to the southern end of the Bandra Worli Sea Link. The BMC has engaged M/s DBMC Geo-Technics & Construction Pvt. Ltd. to carry out the survey at a cost of Rs. 8.43 crore.

Mr. Kukunoor said the actual survey work is expected to start from November 1 and be completed by January 31, 2017. He said requisite permissions for survey have been obtained from the government’s High Powered Committee, the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA), Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB).

The Coastal Road, a freeway which will run along the city’s western seafront, will allow motorists to travel swiftly from the western suburbs to south Mumbai, has been at the conceptual stage for several years with activists and citizens groups opposing it on environmental grounds.

However, with civic elections around the corner, the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP combine has been busy showcasing infrastructure projects to woo voters. The Devendra Fadnavis government has cleared six Metro lines before it completes two years at the end of October.

The Shiv Sena is also keen to showcase the Coastal Road project as theirs. “A dream project of the BMC proposed by Uddhav ji years ago, presented by him in 2013,” Aaditya Thackeray tweeted hours after after the geotechnical survey began.

THE HINDU