Shiv Sena, BJP vie for coastal road credit

Mumbai: Both Shiv Sena and BJP have claimed credit for kick-starting the coastal road project, previously stuck in limbo for over four years. Speaking at a ceremony for laying the foundation stone for the Metro 3 project on Saturday, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray assured Mumbaikars that Sena would stand by its promises, such as bringing the much-awaited coastal road project to fruition.

“We are answerable to Mumbaikars. Sena had first proposed the coastal road project, and we have seen it through. Work on the coastal road project has finally commenced with the geotechnical survey of the land. We have kept our promises and the dream of every Mumbaikar is now coming true.” Similarly, Aditya Thackeray tweeted saying work on the coastal road has already begun. He said, “Uddhavji and I visited the site earlier today.” Sena also assured that work on the coastal road would be undertaken in phases, without trouble to traffic.

Reacting to Sena’s claims of the role it played in fast forwarding the project, Mr Shelar said, “We welcome the coastal road. We promised during the Lok Sabha election as well as the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha election that development is one of our main priorities. This project was stuck for the past four years. It is due to the efforts of our chief minister that we got all permissions this year.”

Mr Shelar further said, “If anyone is to be lauded for the coastal road project, it is first the Mumbaikars themselves, and then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who played a crucial role in acquiring pending clearances from the central government for starting the project in Mumbai.”

2011
State first mooted the plan of having a coastal road connecting Nariman Point to Kandivali.

2013  
Proposal of the road presented by Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to the BMC

20 October, 2016
BMC began work on the coastal road by starting a geotechnical survey

28 October, 2016
Coastal road received 21 NOCs and green clearances