With Assembly elections just three months away in October, the Shiv Sena released a mini manifesto on Thursday, promising to build the much touted coastal road despites environmentalists’ objection to this allegedly ‘eco-damaging’ project.

The party supremo, Uddhav Thackeray claimed the BMC would fund this Rs 5,600-crore project alone, without the help of the state government.

“The coastal road will be made by the BMC and we don’t need funds from the state government,” said Thackeray.

The road, which will link city’s western suburbs with south Mumbai, was first mooted in 2011 by the then Municipal Commissioner Subodh Kumar, following which there were clamors of aborting the extended sea link to Nariman Point. Now, Uddhav and his party have taken the project in their hands, saying the Sena-governed BMC can construct it alone.

Stressing on saffron party’s resolve, Rahul Shewale, former chairman of the BMC’s Standing Committee and now MP from Mumbai South-Central said, “nearly Rs 3,000 crore has been collected under this head in the last two years, and this is sufficient to start the project. In one year, we will get more money under this category. The money collected as premium is meant to be spent for infrastructure and can be used for the coastal road.”

Shewale said that, apart from this, the BMC has nearly Rs 3,000 crore under the Asset Reconstruction head. It also has Rs 30,000 crore in fixed deposits and assets worth R3 lakh crore just in Mumbai. “There’s no scarcity of funds in the BMC, and the project can be completed without the help of any private investor,” added Shewale.