Following the decision to implement Mumbai’s Development Plan 2034 (DP) in four slots of five years, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) DP department has taken a step ahead and decided a year-wise breakdown of the implementation of the plan for the first five years. The department believes this will help organise the development of the next 20 years on a micro scale, and provide maximum implementation of the DP. The department is in the process of drafting the plan for 2017-18, and the draft is awaiting approval of municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta.
In addition, to bridge the deficit between the implementation of budgetary provisions and the DP’s provisions for development, the civic body has decided to link the DP provisions to the civic budget. It will introduce the DP provisions in the budget of 2017-18.
Ramnath Jha, officer of special deputation for the DP said, “For meaningful implementation of a massive development plan spanning over 20 years, we need to ensure that one twentieth of the plan is implemented each year. For this, we are going to require cooperation of every department and all the 24 wards.”
The BMC has set a deadline of November to finalise the tasks, by when work on the budget can commence. The BMC has geared into action to list out the tasks at hand and prioritise the DP provisions, which will be implemented during the first year (2017-18).
An official from the DP department said, “We will begin with implementing municipal amenities on municipal plots, because this is the simplest provision to start with. Municipal amenities are a must in any city, and since they will be constructed on municipal plots, no clearances or purchases of land are required.”
The civic body’s top priority is developing social amenities and it has started with solid waste management in the city.
“Cleaning up the city is the need of the hour. However, other departments, for example, education and health have also been asked to identify areas, which need to be addressed urgently,” Mr Jha said.
He added that urban planners are working to identify the weak areas of each ward, and focus on developing them.
