BMC yet to comply completely with coastal regulatory zone norms

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has not completely complied with the provisions of coastal regulatory zone (CRZ) approval given to its coastal road project, as it has to pay at least Rs 74 crore to the state forest department for the coastal and marine biodiversity conservation. According to a special condition laid down by the union environment ministry’s CRZ expert appraisal committee in 2017, the BMC has to give the Mangrove Foundation of Maharashtra 2% of the project value to balance the Coastal Road’s environmental influence. The state forest department’s mangrove cell officials confirmed that the BMC is yet to pay this amount in its entirety. They additionally said that the BMC has not officially conveyed to the forest department their total cost of the project as of date, making it challenging to exact the payable amount according to the updated project prices. Virendra Tiwari, additional principal chief conservator of forests (APCCF), mangrove cell told the media that the forest department has asked the BMC to deposit Rs 254 crore with them, which is 2% of the total project value of around Rs 12,700 crore. Of the Rs 254 crore, the BMC has deposited only Rs 150 crore yet despite it being necessary for the total amount to be paid on or before initiation of construction. In 2017, when the project cost was valued at Rs 5,303 crore, the forest department had written to the BMC asking the latter to pay a sum of Rs 106.6 crore according to the conditions of the CRZ approval. Of this, the BMC paid an initial tranche of Rs 25 crore on June 12, 2019. Due to project cost increase, the amount to be deposited toward coastal and marine conservation has also surged. Soon after the MCZMA provided the additional land to be reclaimed (on December 2) in a post-facto approval, the BMC deposited another tranche of Rs 150 crore with the Mangrove Foundation on December 11, 2020, leaving an outstanding of Rs 74 crore. The total amount is to be added to the corpus fund of the Mangrove Foundation, which produces a certain amount of interest each year that is used in operating the organisation. Image Source