Mumbai: With a bunch of big ticket transport infrastructure projects to boost connectivity in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) underway, a government body has identified 129 villages in the region that will directly benefit, and potentially see a spurt in commercial and residential projects.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which is implementing some of these transport infrastructure projects, has categorised these villages into eight broad ‘growth centres’, spread across 332 sq km. It has also sent a proposal to the state urban development department requesting that it be appointed the ‘Special Planning Authority’ for these areas to avoid haphazard development.
“These areas are all part of the MMRDA’s region plan, but for micro control over the development, merely them being part of a region plan is not enough, so we thought MMRDA should be the special planning authority,” Metropolitan Commissioner SVR Srinivas told ThePrint.
“We are doing a lot of projects in that region, so it makes sense that the entire area is well planned and developed. The taxes and levies that we will get from developers can ultimately be ploughed back into infrastructure development,” he added.
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Connectivity in the MMR
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region is to Mumbai what the National Capital Region is to Delhi. It includes Mumbai and its satellite towns such as Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali, Navi Mumbai, Ulhasnagar, Bhiwandi-Nizamapur, Vasai-Virar and Mira-Bhayandar. Spread over 4,355 sq km, it has a population of more than 20 million.
According to the 2011 census, the population of the MMR has been growing at a higher rate (12 per cent) than that of the state’s capital city Mumbai alone (3.87 per cent).
Transport infrastructure and connectivity within the MMR is poor, with most of it being connected by overburdened suburban railway lines that carry 75 lakh passengers daily, which is 2.6 times their capacity.
The growth areas
According to the MMRDA, the eight demarcated growth regions will directly benefit from projects such as the Sewri-Nhava Sheva Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train, the Navi Mumbai International Airport, a Metro line from Kanjurmarg in Mumbai to Badlapur, a state highway from Panvel to Bhimashankar via Murbad, and a multi modal corridor from Virar to Alibaug.
The projects are expected to not only bring different parts of the MMR close to Mumbai, but also enhance connectivity within the region.
These projects are at different stages of planning and construction. The Navi Mumbai airport and the Trans Harbour Link, a key connector to the Navi Mumbai airport from south Mumbai, are under construction. These projects will give a boost to areas around Uran in Raigad district. The multi modal corridor, to be implemented in two phases, is expected to encourage development across Thane, Raigad and Palghar districts.
Accordingly, the MMRDA has demarcated seven areas — the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link influence area that comprises 14 villages in Raigad’s Uran taluka, the Poynad centre that includes 12 villages in the Alibaug taluka, the Kharbav centre that includes 10 villages in Thane district’s Bhiwandi taluka, the Boisar centre that includes 11 villages in Palghar district, the Neral centre that includes 24 villages spread across Raigad’s Karjat taluka and Ambernath in Thane district, the Karjat centre that includes 28 villages in the Karjat taluka, and the Alibaug centre that includes 13 villages in Alibaug.
The MMRDA also wants to be the ‘Special Planning Authority’ for a ‘growth centre’ at Pen, which is along the alignment of the Virar-Alibaug multi modal corridor and also close to the alignment of the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link. The region over which the MMRDA wants control includes 16 villages spread across 7,524 hectares. An MMRDA official said that the authority plans to build a township at Pen.
Separately, the MMRDA has also decided to develop more ‘growth centres’ in the MMR on a partnership basis with private players who can aggregate land. At a meeting held last month, the MMRDA decided to invite ‘Expressions of Interest’ for the same.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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