MUMBAI: The Tony Nepean Sea Road from Kemps Corner to Priyadarshini Park is to be widened and one of the project-affected persons is former attorney general of India Soli Sorabjee. The BMC, last month, began the process for the acquisition of setback area to widen the road from the present 40 ft to 90ft.

This is the fourth attempt by the BMC in the past 10 years to acquire open and built-up set back area to widen the road. "The 90-ft road line was decided in 1969. But each time the civic corporation issued notices, residents moved court on the plea that only when the BMC would widen the entire road at one go, they would part with the setback area on their plots. This was not possible as acquisition is done in stages and so the plan would go back into cold storage,'' said a senior civic official.

R A Rajeev, additional municipal commissioner in-charge of roads, said the work order for widening the road had already been issued but as the acquisition process had not been completed, the work could not be started.

The widening of the road is a precursor to the building of the Worli-Nariman Point link which is part of the Western Freeway and includes the Bandra-Worli sealink that is likely to be commissioned in March next year.

"There is a likelihood of a tunnel being constructed at Priyadarshini Park that will connect the link to Marine Drive. Then the Nepean Sea Road will constitute a part of the Worli-Nariman Point Link. Considering the traffic that will come in, it is necessary to widen the road. Most of the land that is to be acquired is open setback area and around 10% is built-up area. We will be acquiring both simultaneously,'' said Rajeev.

This time the BMC has approached the work in a more methodical manner and is attempting to do it all at one go. "We carried out a detailed study of the number of properties in the area, the size of each property, the setback area to be acquired in every case, the number of trees and then went ahead with issuing the notices,'' said civic officials.

In all, the BMC plans to acquire 45,000 sq ft of open setback (on which there is no construction) and 4,000 sq ft of built-up area. Around 99 trees are identified to be cut down while another 54 will be transplanted.

On Thursday, one of the residents, C Gokhani whose property is affected by the roadline, gave up the open setback area to the BMC. "Lodha builders too have acceded the open setback area to the BMC and other developers who are carrying out redevelopment on the road have been informed. They are inclined to hand over the setback area,'' said sources.

But other residents have raised issues, some of them referring to past court cases and other queries. Two of the most sensitive areas include the built-up area setback to be acquired from properties belonging to the family of Soli Sorabjee and the owners of Gamadia Estate. "A decision on the two properties will be taken at the level of the municipal commissioner,'' said sources.