Mumbai: Come rain or high tide, Coastal Road will withstand it all, says BMC

Sea wall built with natural rocks can sustain the pressure of high tide

The Mumbai Coastal Road can tackle the heaviest rain and highest waves, the BMC has claimed. The road is almost six feet higher than the existing sea road, and can face the highest level of tide with storm surge.

The Coastal Road is being constructed from Princess Street flyover to the southern end of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link. The project includes four-plus-four lanes, bridges, elevated roads and tunnels. About 75 per cent of the work has been completed. But, many have raised concerns about whether the road will sustain for over a hundred years.

According to MM Swami, chief engineer, Coastal Road, "The highest level of tide is 4.5 metres, plus the storm surge is an additional 2.5 metres. The road has been designed to sustain this. It is 8.5 metres high from the mean sea level and 6 feet or approximately 2 metres higher than the existing [sea] road. Besides, there is a 20 metre-long promenade on the western side and a sea wall with natural rocks."

Work on constructing the sea wall began in 2019 and it was completed by 2021. "Over the last two years, the wall has sustained the pressure of high tide and surge in waves during the monsoon," said another BMC official.

While constructing the coastal road, the BMC also increased the size of 16 drainage lines by almost two-and-a-half fold. "Earlier the BRIMSTOWAD report recommended the drainage size for 50 mm rainfall per hour. But this kind of project is meant to last for centuries, so we considered the highest rainfall seen on July 26, 2005, and increased the size of the drains, making them capable of dealing with 93 mm rainfall per hour. Additionally, all the box drains will have flood gates to restrict the flow of sea water into the city during high tide," project sub-engineer, Vijay Zore said, adding that currently, flood gates have been installed at 14 locations and work at other locations is underway.