‘Development of metropolitan region will help reduce burden on Mumbai’
Sanjay Khandare, additional metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, said growth centres and better infrastructure development is crucial to spur economic activities in MMR.
Although the pace of key infrastructure projects, which will connect Mumbai and MMR in the future, has been slow, Sanjay Khandare, additional metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, said they have now moved from just being on paper to advanced stages of commencement. In a conversation with Swapnil Rawal, Khandare said growth centres and better infrastructure development is crucial to spur economic activities in MMR.
How important is the development of MMR for Mumbai?
The dispersal of business district is essential for development. One or two business districts for the entire MMR will not be sufficient. For economic activity and employment generation, we need to have more growth centres. It has been our planning that undeveloped areas should have their own growth centres. This would help in reducing the burden on Mumbai’s infrastructure.
Work on key infrastructure projects has moved at a slow pace. How crucial are these projects for the connectivity and development of the region?
These projects will definitely boost connectivity between Mumbai and the unconnected or poorly connected areas of the hinterland. With improved connectivity, people can choose to stay in larger houses, in greenery, and travel to Mumbai or other areas for work. Apart from that, the areas from where these two major roads pass, too, will have appropriate commercial development and it will spur economic activities. It will help in traffic dispersal from Mumbai for motorists going to Pune, Goa, etc as the travel time will reduce.
The progress on the Virar-Alibaug Multi-Modal Corridor has been sluggish. What is the current status of the project?
We have finalised the detailed project report; its approvals are in the final stages. We have started the land acquisition process. There has been some opposition, but we are sorting it out. The compensation is on the lines of the [Mumbai-Nagpur] Samruddhi corridor, where farmers have got four times the ready-reckoner rates. We will soon be able to begin work on the project.