A new front in Thane's recreational space - the waterfront
TMC's Creek Side Development Plans Sound Exciting
Volume 1 - Issue 25
This issue of Times of Urbania is the 25th one, after having started off on Mar 30, 2019 as a weekly newsletter. This weekly publication shares and highlights with community of Rustomjee Urbania useful information about the township & Thane within which the community is based. We do have readers across the globe too & hope they too enjoy reading our localised content.
Our journey of more than five months has been eventful and the newsletter has reached readers uninterrupted every weekend by email or as a social media link.
On the launch of this, the 25th issue of Times of Urbania - B I G T H A N K S to all readers of the newsletter with special commendation of subscribers who receive it by email.
The city of Thane borders two major geographical features - the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) on the south and the Ulhas river and Thane Creek along the north. Thane's waterfront of 31 kilometres is sadly unused either for transportation or recreation. The Thane Muncipal Corporation (TMC) planned development of the city's waterfront as early as 2010. In more recent times, in conjunction with the Thane Smart City Limited (TSCL) company set up for Smart City projects in the city, TMC has finalised development of eight spots along the water in the city.
A year ago, the first water front development work was initiated at the western most spot, Gaimukh, popular with Thane-ites for recreation and called "Thane Chowpatty." The spot had very little infrastructure to support tourism barring some restaurants. The views of the creek and beyond from Gaimukh are breathtaking. On the northern (far) side of the creek at Gaimukh, one can see small hillocks covered by thick forest. Boats ply by langurously when seen from the shore and are mainly used for fishing. In 2018, as part of development at Gaimukh waterfront, TMC initiated work through a contractor. Sadly, the activity was soon stopped as a complaint was made in Bombay High Court citing dumping of debris for waterfront development which could possibly cause flooding of Ghodbunder during monsoon. After nearly a year since cessation of Gaimukh waterfront development, the good news is that the project has now been allowed by the High Court of Mumbai. TMC sure is likely to put the project on top gear now and there are indications that the project shall be completed by end of 2019 letting Thaneites have their city's first creekside place of recreation.
Forested hills seen from Gaimukh
After ten years in the planning, Thane's water front development is finally getting off the ground. An ambitious attempt to create a space for recreation for citizens and ensure environmental protection, the water front development will happen at:
Gaimukh, Kavesar-Waghbil, Kolshet, Balkum-Saket, Parsik-Retibunder, Nagla Bunder, Kalwa-Sashtrinagar and Kopri
A total of 10.58 km of water front is proposed to be developed with jogging tracks, seating, cycling tracks, walkways, promenades, playgrounds, restaurants and gyms. TMC has earlier too successfully reclaimed land along the Thane Creek. I had written about the Thane Biodiversity Park along the Saket Kalwa Road in 16th issue of Times of Urbania - you can read it here: https://bit.ly/2lMj7lA
Over the next few years we can look forward to visiting developed waterfronts of Thane which will be a fitting tribute to the city of lakes, as Thane is also called. Thane has both the creek and mangroves along the creek sadly inaccessible to citizens and currently also favoured for trash and debris disposal. With TMC waterfront development projects, Thane residents will have additional option of green spaces adjoining water for recreation. Mangroves too will be conserved as those in public eye are likely to be safer.