BMC reports Bombay high court for having all the approvals for SCR project.

By Abhay Shah, Realty Quarter

On June 24, the BMC told Bombay high court, that the South Coastal Road (SCR) project had all required approvals. The notification of 2006 of the Environmental Impact Assessment did not apply for the project and, accordingly, no environmental clearance was needed, said Senior Advocate Darius Khambata, counsel for BMC. BMC stated that the coastal road was the dominant element of the project and was thus not covered under the purview of the area development project.

The BMC lawyer argued that the joint technical committee examined the problem of traffic congestion and highway infrastructure overloads in Mumbai. “The project for coastal roads tries to address the problem in a holistic way, and despite projects such as the metro, the coastal road project needs to be carried out in order to meet the city’s needs,” the lawyer said. The hearing will proceed on 25 June.

The court is hearing the PILs claiming work, including reclamation operations which were started on the proposed 10 km route from Marine Lines to Bandra-Worli Sea Link at Worli, without environmental approval. The 34-kilometre Mumbai coastal road will link Marine Lines in South Mumbai to Kandivli in the north of the city.