Calcutta Eye, chief minister Mamata Banerjee's dream project that seeks to recreate a London landmark at Millennium Park along the Hooghly, has received the National Green Tribunal's go-ahead after being held up for nearly two years.

The eastern zone bench of the tribunal, comprising Justice S.P. Wangdi and expert member P.C. Mishra, apparently cleared the project after a hearing in September. A special purpose vehicle has since been set up with officials of the Calcutta Port Trust, the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) and the developers to take the project forward.

A source in the CMDA, the nodal agency for the project, said the special purpose vehicle would apply for land to build the Calcutta Eye from the port authorities in November.

London-based Sun Consulting and Investment had won the bid to build the Calcutta Eye in mid-2014. But work couldn't start because the National Green Tribunal issued an injunction till such time it received environmental impact assessment reports for all projects on the riverbank.

The directive came after environment activist Subhas Datta moved the tribunal against the Calcutta Eye project.

In his petition, Datta said the bank of the Hooghly was eroding and that projects were being planned at the cost of blocking the flow of the river. He also raised concerns about the safety of the proposed Calcutta Eye project. "This will be a very heavy and tall structure. People will be riding the giant wheel. Fast erosion of the riverbank has changed the character of the soil," he stated.

The tribunal responded by making environmental impact assessment reports mandatory for all projects on the bank of the Hooghly between Tollygunge and Dakshineswar.

A source said the tribunal asked the port trust to go ahead with the Calcutta Eye after being told that the assessment report was ready. The port trust would provide nine acres to the project for free.

"We expect work to begin by January or February," urban development minister Firhad Hakim said on Monday.

Sudipto Bose, chairman and managing director of Sun Consulting and Investment told Metro over phone that parts of the giant wheel would be built by different companies in Belgium, UK and China and assembled in Calcutta. It will take 18 months from the day work starts for the wheel to be ready, he said.

The Ferris wheel will be 120 metres in diameter and have 60 cubicles, each with eight seats. The budget for the project is Rs 300 crore, of which the state government's share is Rs 86 crore, a CMDA official said.

Petitioner Datta said the environmental impact assessment reports should be made public. "What will be the stability of the structure, especially since the soil is eroding? The reports need to be put in the public domain."

The activist argued that he should have got copies of the reports in his capacity as the petitioner who had raised doubts about the project. "The developers of the Calcutta Eye told the green tribunal that they have done the environmental impact assessment reports, but never submitted copies to the tribunal or me," he alleged.