Mumbai coastal road will be part of G-20 deliberations says Ministry of Home Affairs

Coastal Road, which is counted as one of the most significant upcoming infrastructure projects of Mumbai, will be a part of deliberations in the upcoming G-20 2nd Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group (DRRWG) Meet in Mumbai from May 23 to 25, 2023, Union Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will highlight the disaster management measures taken for this project in front of the DRRWG delegates. The DRRWG's five key priorities are early warning, resilient infra, national response, building back better and nature-based solutions, the Ministry said.

The construction of the 10.58 km long Coastal Road Southern Section from the Princess Street Flyover on Shyamaldas Gandhi Marg to the Worli side of the Worli Bandra Sea Link is currently in full swing and, so far, 73.5 per cent of the work on the project has been completed.

It is coming up on a reclaimed area of 119 lakh 47 thousand 940 square feet (111 hectares) and will be an addition to Mumbai's 250 Km road network, officials said. Speaking about the project, the Additional Municipal Commissioner (Eastern Suburbs), BMC, Ashwini Bhide said, the project design has factored in the probable disasters, apart from environmental compliances and ease of living for citizens. About 13.6% of the project area i.e. 15,60,770 square feet (14.50 hectares) is earmarked for the construction of a safety wall which will protect against sea waves.

The 8.5 km long sea wall is built in such a way that marine life flourishes, while corrosion, soil erosion and tidal effects are taken care of. This will also be an important issue for disaster management matters. For the construction of the wave wall, which will act as a protection wall, the highest level of flood has been taken into account.