• A seven-km undersea tunnel will be constructed for the bullet train project in a bid to save about 12 hectares of mangrove forests in Maharashtra’s Thane creek.
• This will escalate the construction cost of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor project’s 21-km long stretch from Bandra Kurla Complex Station to Shilphata, from ₹100 crore to ₹10,000 crore.
• The tunnel will be a single tube tunnel to accommodate both up and down tracks.
• The tunnel construction is aimed towards conserving nearly 12 hectares of mangroves in the creek.
• The tunnel will ensure the protection of the bird sanctuary and mangroves around Thane creek.

Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor (MAHSR)

• MAHSR is an under-construction high-speed rail line connecting India’s economic hub Mumbai with the city of Ahmedabad.
• The total length of the corridor is 508 km, of which 156 km of construction will be in Maharashtra.
• It is slated to cut the shuttle time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad from over 6 hours to between 2 and 2.5 hours.

About Mangroves

• Mangroves are small trees and shrubs which grow along the coastlines. These trees thrive in salty water and form unique forests on the edge of land and the sea. They also grow in swamps.
• These forests have the ability to store up to 10 times more carbon per hectare than terrestrial forests. Mangrove forests can survive extreme weather conditions and require low oxygen levels to survive.
• Mangroves are distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world and are found in 123 countries. Asia has the largest coverage of the world’s mangroves, followed by Africa, North and Central America, Oceania and South America. Approximately 75% of the world’s mangrove forests are found in just 15 countries.
• India contributes to nearly half of the total mangrove cover in South Asia. West Bengal has the highest percentage of mangrove cover in India. Sundarbans in West Bengal is the largest mangrove forest in the world.
• It is followed by Gujarat and Andaman, and Nicobar islands. Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Kerala also have mangrove.

Recent Updates

• The Union Budget for 2023-24 announced an initiative for mangrove plantation along the coastline and on salt pan lands, under MISHTI (Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes).
• MISHTI will be implemented through convergence between the MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme), CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) Fund and other sources.