The scarcity of land, the influx of migrants in Bombay and the need for additional commercial space in the mid-nineteenth century made land reclamation in Bombay necessary.
Two land reclamation projects taken up in Bombay were:
- In 1864, the Back Bay Reclamation Company won the right to reclaim the western foreshore from the tip of Malabar Hill to the end of Colaba.
- A successful reclamation project was undertaken by the Bombay Port Trust, which built a dry dock between 1914 and 1918 and used the excavated earth to create the 22-acre Ballard Estate.
