Mumbai Port Trust will use rock excavated from the Mumbai Metro Rail Project for reclaiming land on which a new oil cargo-handling berth will be constructed at Jawahar Dweep, in a case that demonstrates sustainable infrastructure development.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had earlier granted permission to Central government-owned Mumbai Port Trust to use rock dredged from the channel-deepening project at nearby Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) for reclamation purposes.
But, since adequate rock quantity was not available, Mumbai Port had sought a change in sourcing the material for building its fifth oil berth.
“Instead of the dredged rock material proposed earlier for reclamation, the project proponent can utilise the excavated material generated from Mumbai Metro Rail project”, the Expert Appraisal Committee, the agency that vets such proposals, decided at a meeting held from 24 to 26 September.
Congesting roads
For Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL), the agency is tasked with building the metro rail project in Mumbai city. This is a huge relief as it is grappled with disposal problems, congestion on city roads and air pollution.
At all the proposed metro station locations and for tunnelling work between stations, good rock material is extracted with no place to dump this in the vicinity. Hence, dumping has to be done through trucks at a location outside the city, which is more than 50 km away. The transportation was not only congesting city roads, but also hampering the progress of work.
The new plan will drastically cut travelling distance from more than 50 km to just about 8 to 13 km, thereby reducing air pollution.
According to the plans, MMRCL has agreed to transport and dump excavated rock material comprising large to medium-sized boulders mixed with murum from Cuffe Parade Station up to Shivaji Maharaja Terminus Station (Metro-Package 1) and from Siddhivinayak Mandir to Sitladevi Station (Metro-Package 4) to a vacant plot identified by Mumbai Port near the sea front named Modistone, located 8 to 13 km away, for stacking the excavated material transported from these stations.
The material will be first shifted from Modistone plot to Haji Bunder water front which is about 500 m away. It will be further loaded onto barges which will then ply to Jawahar Dweep through waterways and the material is dumped at Jawahar Dweep.
There will be no impact from transportation since the entire movement from Modistone plot to Haji Bunder to Jawahar Dweep is within the Mumbai Port estate limits and with least disturbance to the city traffic, a Mumbai Port official said adding that it will reduce the cost of the project.