The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has clearly told the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), that now it won’t allow a change in the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) project’s alignment. The planning authority had informally suggested that the alignment at the Sewri end be shifted a few metres south, so that there is no opposition to the Rs 17,000-crore project because of danger to flamingoes and mudflats.

More that 40,000 flamingoes visit Sewri during winter, and environmentalists say that the current alignment might affect them. File pic