For the project to take place, the Bombay Gymkhana, among other structures, will have to give up its land.

In a major step towards expediting its ambitious project of widening Hazarimal Somani Marg, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked the collector of Mumbai city to hand over the required area and provide all necessary clearances for the project.

In a letter, BMC additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh has asked the Mumbai city collector, Ashwini Joshi, to hand over the required area to the BMC for the widening of the road from 50 feet to 80 feet.

The BMC has taken the decision to widen Hazarimal Somani Marg, near Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), with an aim to get rid of traffic jams and travel woes.

The road, which runs along Azad Maidan to Chaphekar Chowk in Fort, is the only nearby route available for vehicles coming from Churchgate-Nariman Point to CST. Due to this, it is jammed with vehicles and buses, especially during evening peak hours, when vehicles have to clear nearly two to three signals to reach CST. This also causes huge inconvenience to pedestrians, who have to make their way through the congested traffic.

For the project to take place, many other prominent structures along the way will have to give up their land for the widening of the road. These include the Bombay Gymkhana, the tribunal office and other government offices, the popular Cannon Pav Bhaji Centre and Zunka-Bhakar Kendra near CST.

The civic body needs to acquire land held by the collector at present for this purpose. The corporation’s standing committee has already cleared the proposal.

The assistant commissioner of A ward, Kiran Dighavkar, said, “BMC chief Ajoy Mehta conducted a sight visit on Tuesday and realised that we really need to push the project forward. Hence, he has asked that a letter be written to the collector for him to hand over the land.”