Colaba residents move HC against controversial jetty and terminal project

MUMBAI: The Clean and Heritage Colaba Residents’ Association (CHCRA), representing 400 residents, filed a writ petition in the Bombay high court on Monday against the Mumbai Maritime Board (MMB), the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA), the BMC’s Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC), the traffic police and the contractor constructing the proposed ‘passenger jetty and terminal facilities’ in the sea. The project is approximately 280 metres from the Gateway of India, near the Radio Club end of the Colaba seafront.

The residents have objected to the scale of the proposed project, calling it excessive, and have specifically contested the MCZMA’s approval of March 2, 2023, which treated the project as a ‘standalone jetty’. The petition states that the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification permits only consideration of ‘standalone jetties’—a category that this large multi-functional structure does not fall under.

The petition also contests the heritage NOC of February 7, 2025, granted by the municipal architect despite the fact that the project site lies within the buffer/vista zone of the Gateway of India, a Grade I listed heritage monument, and the Fort precinct. It also submits that access to the terminal reportedly involves the removal of a section of the Gateway promenade/sea wall, an area where even minor facade changes to private buildings are currently restricted. It states that the MHCC has nonetheless approved the project, which threatens to dwarf and visually disrupt the iconic Gateway structure.

CHRCA has thus sought a review of the decision to build the jetty and terminal from the P J Ramchandani Marg footpath area into the sea, and urged the court to restrain MMB from demolishing the promenade wall, and proceeding with construction. It argues that the project threatens the character of the Gateway precinct and will obstruct pedestrian access along the popular seafront promenade.

The citizens’ group has also contested the traffic NOC issued by the Mumbai police on February 28, 2025. Its contention is that despite ongoing and severe congestion in the area, the Mumbai traffic police granted an NOC, considering only the construction phase and not the operational impact of the terminal and jetty. It also states in the petition that there was no public notice, hearing, or opportunity for objections afforded to the local residents at any stage of the approval process.

Following the bhoomi poojan in March 2025, the state’s minister for ports development publicly stated that the jetty would be used exclusively for VIPs, celebrities and cricketers’ yachts, further reinforcing the project’s exclusionary and non-public nature, says the petition. It submits that the proposed passenger jetty and terminal facilities, covering nearly 15 acres of sea area, with a jetty extending over half a kilometre into the sea and directly abutting a protected heritage site, is illegal, arbitrary, irrational, and destructive to the character and heritage of the Gateway of India precinct.

CHCRA’s advocate Prerak Choudhary told HT, “We tried our best to have a dialogue with them but despite giving us assurances, they proceeded with the project and left us with no option but to move court.”