Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had dreamed of making a sea route through the Arabian Sea coast in 2012, eight years ago. Which is going to come true now. On Monday, Uddhav Thackeray himself said this while launching an excavation to build two Mahasurang on the banks of the Arabian Sea.
Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) was executed by Chief Minister Thackeray for the excavation of two Mahasurang in the sea route of Mumbai. The diameter of this TVM is 12.19 meters hence this machine is named 'Malva'. This type of heavy machinery is being used for the first time in the country. Thackeray said that this moment is very important and enjoyable from the point of view of Mumbai.
In the year 2012, we conceptualized the sea route. In the future, Mumbai was not identified as a sea link, so it was decided to build a tunnel on the sea route. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had prepared a good action plan for the sea route and also started construction work vigorously. In the meantime, due to the epidemic of the Vaishkiv Corona, many works stopped but the sea route continued. The Mahasurang was excavated from Priyadarshini Park, which would be about three and a half kilometers to Chota Chowpatty (Marine Lines) adjacent to Netaji Subhash Marg.
What is the concept of a sea route?
Starting from Marine Lines in South Mumbai, this road to take a total of eight along the sea will go to Girgaon Chowpatty. The trains will then pass through the tunnel and cross the busiest area like Pedder Road and reach the Worli Sea Link. A four-and-a-half-kilometer four-lane tunnel will be built on this 10-kilometer road. With this, the form of Girgaum Chowpatty will also remain intact. The sea route being built with the help of world-class advisors will also use better technologies. If there is a fire in the oil tanker inside the tunnel, there will be a complete arrangement to extinguish it.
12000 crore estimated cost in the sea route project
The Mumbai seaway project is expected to cost a total of Rs 12 thousand crores. It is a project to bridge the sea in the western part of the city. It will extend from Marine Lines to the north Kandivali area with an eight-lane 29.2 km long freeway. The first part of the 10 km distance from Presence Street Flyover to Worli in the first phase will be done by BMC and in the second phase from Bandra to Kandivali, Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) will do the work.
Fishermen had protested, the Supreme Court had received the green signal
The sea route was strongly opposed by fishermen and environmentalists in Mumbai. Since the roads are being built on the seashores, the fishermen said that this will affect their livelihood. When the matter went to the High Court, the project was stopped. But the Supreme Court in December 2019 gave the project a green signal. Former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had worked hard for five years on this project. Permission of 18 different agencies was taken. After this, the sea route project has started.