Mumbai Post Authority awaits green nod to reclaim 13.14 hectares of sea at Jawahar Dweep

A senior MbPA officer justified the reclamation, saying it would increase the Mumbai port’s efficiency

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Port Authority (MbPA) has decided to reclaim 4.14 hectares of sea at Jawahar Dweep (also known as Butcher Island located opposite the Elephanta islands) to build storage facilities for crude oil, which is imported to Mumbai by ships. In Phase 2, nine more hectares will be reclaimed.

Mumbai Post Authority awaits green nod to reclaim 13.14 hectares of sea at Jawahar Dweep

The MbPA decided on this move after receiving requests from oil PSUs for land at Jawahar Dweep. The proposal to reclaim the sea will come up for clearance before the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority on Monday. However, green activists have sounded a warning bell, saying the move could lead to pressure on the Mumbai shoreline and subsequent flooding.

A senior MbPA officer justified the reclamation, saying it would increase the Mumbai port’s efficiency. “Liquid petroleum and chemicals account for nearly 70% of Mumbai Port’s cargo,” he said. “We have two tanks to store crude, and more facilities are needed. At present, when oil comes by ship, it goes to refineries in Mahul via pipelines. We can manage the turnaround time of ships in a better way if we have storage facilities.”

The papers sent for clearance to the government say that the first phase of the proposed project involves reclaiming 4.14 hectares at Jawahar Dweep, requiring approximately 3 lakh cubic metres of material. MbPA officials have told the government that they will use the soil that was unearthed while constructing the coastal road’s Orange Gate-Marine Drive underground tunnel. Officials said the reclamation would cost ₹25 crore and would be done in nine months while it would take two years for the storage facility to come up.

To push its point, the proposal emphasises that Mumbai Port has continually adapted to the evolving demands of maritime trade and facilitated the latter’s growth. “Despite the rise of other ports, Mumbai Port continues to hold a significant position, managing 8.61% of India’s seaborne trade by volume. It is India’s largest port for bulk cargo traffic, equipped with four jetties dedicated to handling liquid chemicals, crude, and petroleum products,” says the proposal.

The over 150-year-old Mumbai Port has catered to the needs of oil public sector units such as Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited through its marine oil terminal at Jawahar Dweep. The port has established facilities at this terminal, with five berths dedicated to handling crude oil and petroleum products for these refineries. Crude oil is received at the berth and transported directly to the respective refineries via a 10-km pipeline, of which approximately four km is subsea, connecting Jawahar Dweep to the mainland at Pirpau.

Environmental activist D Stalin of NGO Vanshakti said, “MbPA is the largest landlord of Mumbai and has more than adequate space. It is giving huge tracts of land to private entities. Instead of utilising existing unused spaces, it is reclaiming the sea, which makes no sense. These actions will result in more pressure on the shoreline of Mumbai city and increase flooding inside the city due to the displacement of sea water.”