Mumbai’s civic administration has reaffirmed its decision to continue construction activity on the Coastal Road North project, even as fresh legal scrutiny emerges over pending environmental clearances. The clarification follows a formal legal notice issued by an environmental organisation, raising concerns over whether key statutory permissions have been secured. At stake is one of the city’s most expensive transport investments and a broader debate on how megaprojects balance mobility, ecology, and governance.
Senior officials involved with the project said work currently underway is confined to zones that fall outside the Coastal Regulation Zone and is being carried out under a valid “working permission” framework. According to the civic body, this interim approval allows preparatory construction while final forest clearance processes are underway, and the ongoing activities do not violate environmental safeguards or court directions. The Coastal Road North project, envisioned as a 26.3-kilometre corridor linking the western suburbs, forms the second phase of Mumbai’s coastal road network. With an estimated outlay of ₹22,000 crore, the project is positioned as a long-term congestion relief measure for arterial roads while supporting economic productivity across the metropolitan region. Urban planners note that smoother north–south connectivity could reshape travel patterns for daily commuters and commercial logistics alike.
However, the scale of ecological intervention has placed the project under sustained public and legal examination. Project documents indicate that large tracts of mangroves will be affected during construction, triggering requirements for staged forest clearances from the Union environment ministry. While the first level of approval and judicial consent has already been granted, the final stage clearance remains pending. Environmental groups argue that any activity linked to mangrove removal must await full statutory approval and the completion of compensatory afforestation measures. They have warned that proceeding without final clearance risks undermining judicial oversight and could set a precedent for infrastructure-led ecological damage across coastal cities.
Civic officials counter that compensatory environmental measures form a central component of the project’s design. They point to large-scale mangrove plantation plans across designated sites within and outside the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, aimed at ensuring long-term coastal resilience. According to officials, only a limited portion of mangroves will face permanent loss, with replantation planned after construction is completed. Experts in urban climate resilience say the controversy underscores a larger challenge confronting Indian cities: integrating climate-sensitive ecosystems into infrastructure planning rather than treating them as regulatory hurdles. Mangroves play a critical role in flood mitigation and shoreline protection, particularly as Mumbai faces rising climate risks.
The civic body and the state’s mangrove authority are required to formally respond to the legal notice within a fixed timeframe. Until then, the Coastal Road North project remains both a symbol of Mumbai’s infrastructure ambition and a test case for whether rapid urban expansion can align with environmental accountability and transparent governance.
