EAST COAST

MUMBAI: Mumbai Port Trust (MBPT) chairman Sanjay Bhatia on Thursday said the authority was not looking at opening up all 966.3 hectares (ha) of the port land between Wadala and Colaba for redevelopment, as the port would require most of its land for the existing commercial activities and cruise tourism, which is the new focus.

Bhatia, in an interview to Hindustan Times, said only a portion of the total land, 282.57ha across Darukhana, Haji Bunder and Cotton Green, can be freed for development, while 66% of it can be opened up for the city. He said MBPT was open to suggestions from citizens and would not insist on reclamation if the environment ministry or citizens are against it. At the same time, he pointed out that the reclaimed land could create a 93-ha garden for the city.

Justifying MBPT’S draft proposal, Bhatia pointed out that the 2014 plan of the Rani Jadhav committee was too broad and could be implemented in toto only 20 years down the line, after the port activities come to a halt.

In a three-part series this week, HT highlighted how the port trust’s draft planning proposal stressed on commercial development on idle port land, which urban planners said should be used for the public in the form of open spaces and amenities.

Excerpts from the interview:

MBPT’S plan is being criticised for its emphasis on commercial development, unlike previous reports that looked at more open spaces…

The whole of MBPT land, as of today, is commercial land being used for port activities. MBPT earns ₹1,700 crore through these activities. We have no plans of shutting it down. While it is true that our cargo traffic is not growing [it is stable], we have identified ‘cruise development and sea tourism’ as our new growth area. That’s the reason we have built a domestic and international cruise terminal here.

If we don’t consider reclaimed land, the area

[under MBPT’S purview) comes to 873 hectares, of which we