Haji Ali coastal road gets Maharashtra's green nod

The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) has given the goahead to build a coastal road from Worli to Haji Ali, thus ruling out the planned extension of the Bandra-Worli sea link to Haji Ali. MCZMA has forwarded the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation's (MSRDC) proposal to build the coastal road to the environment ministry, a senior official from the state government said on Monday.

MSRDC also owns the Bandra-Worli sea link. Earlier, the state government had indicated that the planned extension of sea link could be scrapped and instead a coastal road may be built at a much lower cost. "Although some portion of the coastal road is not permissible under the present notification , we have asked for an inprinciple approval from the ministry.

Once this clearance is obtained , the corporation can give detailed terms of reference and get an environment impact assessment done with a detailed project report," the official said. A consortium of Reliance Infrastructure and Hyundai had bagged the contract to construct the next phase of the sea link at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore. However, with the coastal road proposal getting the state nod, the future of the consortium seems uncertain.

While MSRDC officials refused to comment on the matter , officials from Reliance Infrastructure said they were unaware about the development . "We have not been sent any communication by the corporation till now," an official from Reliance Infrastructure said.