Mumbai to be slum-free in 10 years, says Fadnavis
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Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced a decade-long plan to make Mumbai slum-free through cluster-based redevelopment, with the Dharavi project aiming to deliver 10,000 rehabilitation homes by January 2029.
Speaking at NAREDCO Maharashtra’s change-of-guard ceremony in Mumbai on Thursday, Fadnavis said the city’s transformation would be driven by the Dharavi Redevelopment Project, the revitalisation of MHADA colonies and the modern redevelopment of BEST bus depots. He credited the real estate sector for helping Maharashtra post 8.8 per cent growth in the first quarter, ahead of the national rate of 7.8 per cent, and said the next phase of Mumbai’s expansion would centre on redevelopment.
Under the cluster development model, the chief minister said 50-year-old MHADA colonies would be redeveloped to maximise land use, while BEST depots would be rebuilt as mixed-use hubs with modern bus stations, commercial and residential spaces, museums, sports grounds and recreational facilities to generate new revenue for the utility. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region development plan targets a $1.5 trillion economy by 2047, with next-generation urbanisation set to accelerate across MMR, Pune and Nagpur metropolitan regions. MMR, which already accounts for nearly 60 per cent of India’s data centre capacity, is planning ecosystems for smart manufacturing, frontier technologies and deep tech, he added.
Fadnavis said “Mumbai 3” was no longer a future concept, with smart cities, edu-cities, medi-cities and innovation cities under active development, and a 24km sea link from Uttan to Virar planned to make the city signal-free. He highlighted the Vadhavan port, nearly three times larger than JNPT, as a game-changer expected to create about one million jobs in Palghar and spur the development of a “Fourth Mumbai”, supported by a dedicated freight corridor linking Vadhavan and JNPT to Nashik and further to Jalna, Wardha and Gadchiroli via the Samruddhi Expressway.
In Nagpur, “New Nagpur” is being developed with plug-and-play industrial facilities, while in Pune land acquisition for the new airport is complete and tendering for construction will begin this year, with the surrounding area earmarked for global capability centres and smart manufacturing. The state also aims to establish the Mumbai-Pune corridor as a “Quantum Corridor”, tapping into Maharashtra’s 30 million youth aged 18–28. Fadnavis urged the construction sector to adopt artificial intelligence and modern technologies for faster, advanced building methods.
During the event, an agreement was exchanged between NAREDCO Maharashtra chairman Kamlesh Thakur and Nagpur NMRDA commissioner Sanjay Meena in the presence of the chief minister, alongside the unveiling of the “New Nagpur” logo.
(Inputs from IANS)