INDIA GROWTH STORY: GREEN SIGNAL FOR DEVELOPMENT

HC Nod For Projects, With One Eye On The Environment, May Be A Role Model For Eco-Friendly Development Across State

Mumbai: Planners and developers have not yet read the fine print of the Bombay High Court go-ahead to infrastructure projects amidst mangroves in Navi Mumbai. But they feel this agreement is the best that they can hope for as they try to balance the rapidly growing region's housing and development needs with protecting nature's interests.
    The HC order has cleared an agreement between Navi Mumbai planning body City and Industrial Development Corporation and the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG) for execution of infrastructure projects without any major damage to the green cover. Mangroves could be protected by tweaking the development projects slightly, BEAG representatives appeared confident, as planners rejoiced in the fact that several important projects — held up for some time — had finally been cleared.
    The 27-km electrified double line project between Seawoods and Uran is one of the long-pending projects that will be back on track because of the HC ruling. Two lines, one from Nerul station and the other from Belapur, will converge at Seawood and proceed towards Uran. It will touch Kile, Targhar, Baman Dongri, Khar Kopar, Gavhan, Rajanpada, Nava-Sheva, Dronagiri and end at Uran. The project is being done on a cost-sharing basis between Cidco and Central Railway (CR). The estimated cost of the project is Rs 495.44 crore, of which CR will invest one-third and Cidco will bear the rest of the cost.
    The project was approved more than a decade ago, in 1996-'97, but was stalled as Cidco faced land-acquisition problems. "Almost 25 per cent of the work has already been completed at a cost of Rs 45.44 crore. We will now restart the project after Cidco acquires the required land,'' CR chief public relations officer S C Mudgerikar said.
    Land is still not available for 11.28 kms of the railway line. "Sixty-seven hectares of land also has to be acquired for the Ranjanpara car shed,'' he said.
    Former Cidco chief architect and town planner Dinkar Samant said the HC ruling would clear the decks for planned development along the 20-km Belapur-Uran stretch. "Everyone would love to stay in a planned township with infrastructure. Navi Mumbai will become another congested city like Ulhasnagar if the projects are not cleared,'' he said.
    "The original development plan of Navi Mumbai, sanctioned by the state in 1979, shows Ulwe and Dronagiri as mini townships in the satellite city,'' he said. These places could be used not only for housing project-affected persons but also for Cidco's housing projects, he added. And Cidco had earmarked almost 2,500 acres of mangrove area along the creek adjoining Palm Beach Road as a nodevelopment zone in the 1979 plan much before the Coastal Zone Regulation (CRZ) Act was made mandatory. "Utility projects like road extensions and railway lines are necessary to accommodate the growing population,'' he said.
    The builders' lobby has welcomed the developments. Builders' Association of Navi Mumbai president Nalin Sharma said the Seawoods-Uran railway line and the bridges between Koparkhairane and Ghansoli had been stuck for years. "These two projects can generate a big stock of housing along the Belapur-Uran and the Koparkhairane-Airoli axis,'' he said.
IT'S ON Six projects, which can give Navi Mumbai a better quality of life, are likely to start soon
TRANSPORT SOLUTIONS Three of the six projects are designed to make travelling easier for Navi Mumbai residents
TRAINS
    Central Railway is building a 27-km line to connect Belapur and Uran. Uran is the place where the proposed international airport is slated to come up; the proposed special economic zone, too, is coming up in the vicinity and — between these two projects — the area between Belapur and Uran is looking at some mind-boggling development; so a railway option, besides road transport, is becoming more of a necessity than a luxury.
ROADS
    There is a plan to extend Palm Beach Road from Ghansoli to Airoli. The road has already become Navi Mumbai's reply to Mumbai's Marine Drive.
    The City and Industrial Development Corporation also plans to construct two bridges on Palm Beach Road to extend the road from Airoli to Koparkhairane.
FLOOD-CONTROL MEASURES Cidco is looking at water-holding ponds and a new water channel to augment flood-prevention measures
    As many as 15 holding ponds have been planned in Vashi, Sanpada, Turbhe and Airoli. Water during high tide can flow from the Thane Creek into these ponds and this will augment Cidco's storm-water drainage system; the water-holding ponds will be particularly effective when high tide coincides with heavy rain to cause flooding.
    A 60-metre-wide water channel has been planned between Nerul and Sanpada in Navi Mumbai; it will be a part of the drainage network in Navi Mumbai and will, again, help in controlling floods.
GOLF COURSE The projects that can go ahead include a huge golf course
    The problem with the proposed golf course at Karave is that the site is in the vicinity of a large mangrove patch. The solution, say developers, could be in the golf course coming up not directly on the mangroves. But the golf course may need to be bifurcated for this and there could be walkways — over the mangroves — connecting the two halves.