Open space-starved Mumbai city may have artificial beach

Open space-starved city may have artificial beach

Life’s a beach | If the plan works out, reclamation will be resorted to for the sole purpose of creating an aesthetic public space

If this plan manages to make that leap from the drawing board to reality, open space-starved Mumbai may soon have an artificial beach off the iconic Queen’s Necklace for people to relax and recreate. The Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) is considering developing an artificial beach in Mumbai off the Marine Drive promenade. If the plan bears fruition, it may be for the first time in recent years that reclamation is being resorted to for the sole purpose of creating public spaces such as a beach and for adding to its aesthetics. Mumbai, originally made up of seven islands, has seen waves of reclamations, both legal and illegal. However, most of these projects, such as the controversial post-Independence Backbay Reclamation scheme, were to house the city’s burgeoning population and commercial purposes. Mumbai’s area has increased from 437.37 sq km in 1991 to 482 sq km now due to the reclamations and years of silting by the sea. An official said the beach could come up after the Girgaon Chowpatty stretch just off the Marine Drive. “This has been suggested by our consultants and further approvals will be needed,” he said. The tetrapods that currently dot the shoreline on the stretch can be replaced with an artificially nourished beach and soft solutions such as geobags containing a mixture of sand and water can be put up at a distance of around half to 1 km from the shore to break the wave flow and prevent shore erosion. These geobags, which break the force of currents and reduce wave pressure on the coastline, are environment-friendly and last longer than the conventional solutions such as tetrapods. Alternative solutions may include a reef bay being laid on the seabed to prevent waves from eating into the sea shore by reducing their impact. “The construction of this artificial beach can be undertaken from the sea side without disturbing traffic on the busy and arterial Marine Drive stretch,” the official said, adding that the proposed beach would have a lot of entry and exit points and ramps to allow access to people. Despite being an emerging international city and global financial hub, Mumbai is woefully short when it comes to open spaces. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, with 2,968 hectares of open space, Mumbai has per capita open space of 2.48 sqm, which is lower when compared to global cities such as New York. This figure dwindles further down to 0.88 sqm in some areas, since most open spaces are built upon, not in use, or allow only restricted entry.