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  22km-long MTHL project soon to receive MoEF nod

22km-long MTHL project soon to receive MoEF nod

AGE CORRESPONDENT
Published : Jan 24, 2016, 12:57 am IST
Updated : Jan 24, 2016, 12:57 am IST

The ambitious 22km long Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) project is soon set to receive its formal clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).

The ambitious 22km long Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) project is soon set to receive its formal clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF). In another push on Friday, the expert appraisal committee (EAC) of the MoEF gave its go ahead by approving the minutes of meeting of December 30, 2015 which was held between the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and the officials from the MoEF at New Delhi.

The minutes of the meeting said that the committee has considered the revised Rs 335 crore environment management plan of the MMRDA and the arguments of the state government as why the project does not require scrutiny under the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, (EIA) 2006.

Commenting on the matter, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “I thank Union minister Prakash Javadekar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for issuing environment and forest clearance to the MTHL project.”

MMRDA officials expect the tenders for the project to be floated by March 2016. However, the MMRDA had two days ago floated tenders to appoint consultants (PMC) to assist the MMRDA and Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Earlier, the forest advisory committee (FAC) had given its green nod to MTHL and had imposed a condition that both ends of the jetty, passing through mudflats and mangroves, must be completed within 30 months.

MMRDA was made to apply for fresh permissions from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) MoEF as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had suspended the CRZ clearance in which it questioned the way MCZMA and MoEF cleared the project.

The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed to fund 80 per cent of the estimated project cost of Rs 11,000 crore and the remaining 20 per cent was proposed to be made available by the Centre.

The MMRDA plans to implement the project on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC – design build) basis. It also plans to have a team of 100 executive engineers working on the project.