The Mumbai Esplanade project

A civic improvement project, which aims to add 51 acres of new open scape in the heavily concretized island city of Mumbai and provide safe pedestrian movement, was unveiled on Thursday, by a group of urban planners, architects and members of the Oval Cooperage Residents Association (OCRA). The Mumbai Esplanade project, as it is called, has lined up pedestrian plazas at five locations. The plan is to connect the city’s important open spaces such as the Oval, Cross, Cooperage and Azad maidans with Churchgate and CST stations along with the business and cultural districts of Fort and Kala Ghoda, to give easy access to pedestrians. Cars will go through short underpasses at busy crossings, and roads will be reclaimed for walking plazas. The project aims to benefit 69 lakh train commuters. Architect Brinda Somaya said, “The creation of publicly accessible space is one of the key elements in improving the overall quality of Mumbai.” “This project will be a salutory lesson to the BMC, which feels that pedestrians don’t matter,” said Nayana Kathpalia from OCRA. Architect Shivjit Sidhu said they have identified alternate routes for traffic during the construction of the plazas. The project, estimated at Rs 492 crore, will be based on a public-private partnership. “We are in talks with various banks and corporates which are willing to fund it,” said Somaya. Narinder Nayar, chairman of NGO Mumbai First and a member of the state-empowered committee for Mumbai Transformation Support Unit, said a preliminary discussion on the project took place four months ago. “The committee’s one consideration was that traffic should not be disrupted.” The project will be completed in five phases. Phase I will create Churchgate Plaza. Kala Ghoda will be covered in Phase II. The third phase will create a plaza at Hutatma Chowk. Phase IV will start at CST and connect to Azad Maidan. It will benefit lakhs alighting at CST and heading towards Fort, Marine Lines or Nariman Point. The fifth near Regal will create an urban centre.