62 per cent of the Mumbai’s eastern waterfront to remain open for public

Dr Bimal Patel, the director of HCP Design announced on Friday that the Mumbai Eastern Waterfront will be more public-friendly. He said that sixty-two per cent of Mumbai’s eastern waterfront will be open for the public. HCP Design has designed the revamp of the eastern waterfront between Colaba and Wadala.

Patel spoke about the project as he addressed students at a public lecture on the redevelopment of the city’s eastern waterfront. He stated that, of the total area under redevelopment, 26 per cent will be publicly accessible open spaces and gardens, as compared to 8 per cent publicly accessible open spaces in the city. He also said that 36 per cent of the land area would be public streets as compared to 17 per cent of public streets in the island city.

“The port development is like a peripheral expansion of the island city. With 62% of the area open to the public, it will look radically different from the rest of Mumbai. The only reason it has more space under the public domain is because there is a scarcity elsewhere in the city,” he told HT.

He further specified that the number is excluding the plan to reclaim 93 hectares near Haji Bunder to form a central garden. The decision, although, has been severely opposed by various Mumbaikars.

Patel also laid emphasis on the plan by stating that it is a win-win situation for both, the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), which owns the land and the citizens of Mumbai. He explained that this is the last parcel of land left to renew Mumbai.

It is expected that the eastern waterfront will become one of the most accessible areas in Mumbai with the upcoming Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, CST-Panvel high-speed corridor and the Metro-4A (Wadala-GPO).

MbPT has earlier in 2018, released a plan for redeveloping 966 hectares of land between Colaba and Wadala. The plan was criticised by urban planners and experts. As a result, MbPT recently submitted a revised plan to the town planning department of the Maharashtra government. The department stated that it is looking at redevelopment of only 253 hectares of land.