India, Nov. 8 -- Even as preliminary work on parts of the Versova-Dahisar-Bhayandar stretch of the Coastal Road has begun, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is still faced with the task of acquiring around 346 hectares of land for the 27km project and the network of bridges that will link into it. To speed up the process, the civic body now plans to appoint a consultant to handle land acquisition across both public and private parcels, with a target of completing the exercise within three months.

According to Abhijit Bangar, additional municipal commissioner (projects), the consultant will oversee land acquisition not only for the Coastal Road (north) itself, but also a series of connecting bridges, including the Mash-Versova ...