This captivating mega city, which houses the who’s who of India Inc, is virtually being torn apart and needs to be relieved of the immense pressure building up on it. The problem lies in the fact that the bulk of the concentration is at one place—the business centre of Mumbai at Nariman Point and Church Gate. Naturally, the area is choking due to congestion and overcrowding.

What is needed is an alternative site. It is increasingly getting evident that there is a demand for quality space for commercial and trading activities of global, national and regional significance to relieve South Mumbai of its escalating burden.

Confronted with the dynamic change in the IT and electronic industry, financial and business services, international tourism and recreation, there is a proposal to develop a high-profile mega central business city for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region on the lines of waterfront centres of Sydney, Barcelona, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. With this objective in mind, a central location where plenty of land is available was identified. Ideally, the location should have all-round accessibility and links with Mumbai City, the proximity of Navi Mumbai and the northern suburbs.

Further, it has to be a location where it is easy to develop a multi-modal transport system. The only site that came close to satisfying these parameters is located to the east of National Highway No. 3, to the south of the northern suburbs of the metropolitan region and to the north of the existing Central Business District at Nariman Point and Church Gate area—the area around Thane Creek. This site can be accessed from NH-3, the Mumbai-Panvel (Y. Chavan) Road, the suburban railway and the Mulund-Airoli Road and is spread on the salt pans around Thane Creek to the west of Navi Mumbai. This area spreads over about 5,500 hectares and has excellent potential of being developed as a seafront of the magnitude and elegance of the Baltimore Waterfront, Sydney Harbour and Barcelona Waterfront.This is a coastal regulations zone (CRZ) and is located in the heart of Mumbai.

This proposal envisages the highest possible infrastructure standards for a mega-city with commercial, recreation, entertainment, sports stadium and golf course facilities along with rail, road and water transport. This prime urban land could also be utilised for business, clean industry, electronic and IT and tourism-related projects of international, national and regional importance. To the north, there is a proposal for trade and commerce, services, utilities and facilities. Facing the seashore, corporate complexes, hotels and paid recreation facilities all proposed. The anchors at the edges with linear corridors would be supported by a public transport-cum-road ring corridor and three-road corridors. Adequate linkage with Bhandup and Navi Mumbai at a number of locations would be ensured. Four corridors, 60 to 80 metres wide with road-based and dedicated reservation for road or rail-based public transport system would circuit the complex.

The south-west anchor (850 hectares) would have a transport node for luxury liners and boats. A water bus service is envisaged between south Mumbai and this mega centre. This south-west anchor would have recreation facilities like golf courses, stadium, gyms, parlours, clubs and sports complexes and support commercial and residential facilities. The south-east anchor (800 hectares) would have mostly seafood estates and resorts and hotels with departmental stores in addition to seafront activities. In the north-west expanse (2,500 hectares), the key components of the proposal are waterfront recreation centres, entertainment activities, all types of tourist facilities, etc.

In the second belt, corporate and company offices and high-profile housing facilities are proposed. In the third belt, mixed uses with emphasis on housing and facilities are proposed while in the fourth belt institutions, facilities and services are proposed.

A key feature of the proposal is to designate an area of about 500 hectares as an enterprise economic zone in the north-east expanse (1,450 hectares).

However, this is a conceptual proposal and has to be examined for feasibility in collaboration with the MMRDA and other related government agencies.