Key points:
- Mumbai will lose an additional 1.5 hectares of thick mangroves due to construction of the third Thane creek bridge (aka Vashi bridge).
- MSRDC had issued a public notice some activist called this move unnecessary.
- Navi Mumbai Police officer pressed on the need of the bridge.
Vashi bridge connecting Navi Mumbai and Mumbai gets underway. Due to which Mumbai will lose an additional 1.5 hectares of thick mangroves at Turbe and Vashi the construction of the third Vashi bridge begun.
The two existing Vashi creek bridges, one was built in 1973, the other in 1994 the oldest one is the hardly used by regular travellers, thus increasing load on the second one which has six lanes.
The critical Sion Panvel highway has been widened into ten lanes but due to the poor connectivity between the two cities, vehicular movement is obstructed by massive traffic jam near the Vashi toll naka and the Mankurd end of the Vashi creek bridge.
The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has issued a public notice about the cutting of mangroves. The exercise has already begun in some areas, say activist who are calling the move unnecessary and accusing the authorities of poor planning. The Vashi creek mangrove region, which is also a flamingo sanctuary, lush with floral and fauna.
Image Source:- Google
The proposed cost of the project is about Rs 800 crore, but it is likely to increase due to the delay caused by the corona virus pandemic.
Zoru Bhathera argued that the plan could have been styled after the Trans Harbour link project “In mangrove areas, bridges should ideally be built on stilts. The footprint of a stilt is very small and does not effect it’s surroundings much. They could have easily avoided cutting down the mangroves.”
However, a police officer from Navi Mumbai pressed on the need of another bridge. “The old bridge is not used much. This leads to huge traffic jam on the second bridge. We need another bridge desperately.”
