After knocking on the doors of the State government about two months ago, by appealing it to drop the Netravathi Waterfront Development Project under the Mangaluru Smart City Mission, the stakeholders of the project have reiterated that the project is not feasible as many questions have remained unanswered and the project lacked clarity.
In their latest petition to Dinesh Gundu Rao, Minister in charge of Dakshina Kannada, the stakeholders, including partners of a tile factory, boatyard builders, private land owners residing along the Netravathi bank from Netravathi railway bridge to Bolar sea face covering a distance of 2.1 km, said that Mangaluru Smart City Ltd (MSCL) is not transparent and the stakeholders have been kept in the dark over how the project is going to be implemented.
The latest petition was submitted to the Minister in the Janata Darshan in the city on September 25. Earlier, on July 27 the stakeholders, led by F. M. Lobo, managing partners of Cascia Tile Factory, which is a heritage structure, submitted a petition to the Chief Secretary of the State government and other senior officials concerned, appealing the government to shelve the project. In all, 323 persons had signed this petition.
According to the MSCL, the major features of the project are promenade development from Nethravati railway bridge (near Morgan’s Gate) to Bolar sea face, construction of a hanging bridge across the Phalguni (or Gurupura river) from Sulthan Bathery to Tannirbavi, refurbishment of water jetties at Tannirbavi and Sulthan Bathery, and creating infrastructure for water sports activities.
The July 27 petition said: “...MSCL claims to have the promenade development project only on the port land which belongs to the Department of Ports & Inland Waterways. But in reality, there is very less port land available at many places on the 2.1 km stretch and, in some cases, there is no port land available for the project. Private land abutting this port land has to be acquired if this project has to be completed. This raises a natural question as to how MSCL would construct cycle/walking tracks in discontinuous fragments of port land without acquisition of these private lands...”
The petition said: “Till date, private land owners have not received any notification, sketches, land acquisition notices nor any written requests for collaboration either from the Department of Ports and Inland Waterways or the MSCL...”
The petition said that in a technical committee meeting, the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) had provided certain recommendations for the in-principle approval of the project. But unfortunately, these recommendations have not been adhered to in the Detailed Project Report (DPR).
The realignment of the project as per conditional CRZ approval was neither updated in DPR nor in the awarded contract.
They (stakeholders) said that no details are available in the MSCL website on the DPR, sketches, environmental impact assessment report, social impact assessment etc. for the promenade development raising doubts over transparency of the project.
Also, at the project site there is no display board regarding the details of the project, cost estimate, contractor details, and other related information.
The boat building yards running on the stretch have availed lakhs of rupees loan from banks, Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), and other organizations. The boat building yards require river access for their boat transportation. This project would cut off their access to the river. Also, thousands of employees working on the boatbuilding yard are dependent on this industry for their livelihood.
MSCL claims that they will incorporate the walking paths and cycle tracks in between the boatyards which is not possible / practical.
“...We should prioritize projects that create jobs and support livelihoods rather than focusing on building fancy walking and cycling tracks for city beautification...,” the petitioners said.
They said that the work at many places has started by bulldozing premises, buildings, trees, mangroves etc without seeking permission from the stakeholders and without any plan and sketch.
The stakeholders said that they have repeatedly sent communications to MSCL requesting for sketches, drawings, clarity on the project. But there was only generic and vague responses from the company. The MSCL has been only giving oral assurances and no written communications /replies.
