MMRDA to start land acquisition

The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA)’s ambitious plan to develop growth centres in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is set to get another push as the MMRDA has planned to start land acquisition, penning its town planning scheme in Vasai, Panvel and Kharbao near Bhiwandi.

“MMRDA will start land acquisition after a plan for developing logistics hubs and affordable housing in areas like Vasai, Panvel and Kharbao, in the MMR region, is conceptualised,” said a MMRDA official.

In MMRDA’s town planning of growth centres, it sets aside 10 per cent of the total land for affordable homes for the weaker sections of the society. Earlier in 2015, Kalyan was the first growth centre planned by the MMRDA.

“We are currently studying the possibilities of implementing the town planning scheme in areas like Vasai, Panvel and Kharbao where we have identified land,” said Sanjay Sethi, additional metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA.

A South Korean think-tank had earlier recommended to MMRDA that Vasai-Virar, Bhiwandi, Panvel and Pen-Alibaug can be used for creation of growth centres.

It is interesting to note that MMRDA’s plan of growth centre in Kalyan, Vasai, Panvel, and Kharbo is well connected and near the proposed Virar-Alibaug multi-modal corridor from which even Kharbao railway station is nearby.

However, experts are of the view that MMRDA should focus on completing its Virar-Alibaug corridor first. “It is natural that the real estate sector may get a boost and it is a good decision to construct affordable homes and also boost the warehousing sector. But things are not that simple. There is already excess inventory of

houses in the MMR region and the simple reason behind people not buying there is because MMR has no connectivity. So, it is better MMRDA concentrates on completing its Virar-Alibaug corridor rather than just building ghost towns in MMR region,” said, Ajay Chaturvedi, real estate expert.

The deadline for the 76 km long phase-1 from Navghar in Virar to Chirner (JNPT) part of the Virar-Alibaug mulitmodal corridor was decided as 2014 in 2010, and was later extended up to 2017, but still as the work on the stretch has not started, MMRDA has claimed that the phase-1 will be ready for public use only by 2021.

The project once completed will help people travelling to Alibaug from Virar to reach in 75 minutes. The 126 km corridor will have eight lanes and will connect NH8 (Ahmedabad), NH3 (Agra-Delhi), NH4 (Pune-Bangalore), NH4 B (JNPT) and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

Meanhwile, according to a senior MMRDA official, it has started conducting the survey in Vasai, Panvel and Kharbao, as MMRDA is the special planning authority (SPA) in the MMR. It is set to come out with development control rules (DCR) of its own, soon.