Mumbai: CM Devendra Fadnavis announced on Wednesday in Davos the establishment of a new business district at Raigad-Pen on the lines of Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), calling it the first city in the planned Third Mumbai region that is expected to decongest Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.The growth centre will be built 15-20km from Navi Mumbai airport. Permissions for it were obtained in the last four years, said Fadnavis. He said companies will be able to start work immediately on a ‘plug-and-play’ basis. He said govt, MMRDA and private entities will work together. “Well-paid jobs as well as global capacity centres and a fintech ecosystem will be created,” he said. He said facilities like ‘walk-to-work’ will be created there. After the announcement of the new growth centre, MoUs for investment of about Rs 1 lakh crore were signed with Republic of Korea’s Havana Group, Switzerland’s SSB Group, Ensar, FedEx and Tribeca Developers from US, Finland’s River Recycle Group, Dubai’s MGSA Group, Singapore’s Spaces Holding Maple Tree, and Genevieve and Indospace Park Group. A senior MMRDA official said the first stage in creating Third Mumbai, aka Karnala-Sai-Chirner (KSC) New Town, will involve drone-based mapping, which will be followed by more granular studies using remote sensing system LiDAR and other advanced tools. Planned across 124 villages in Raigad district, KSC New Town falls within Navi Mumbai airport influence notified area (NAINA), a blueprint that was put in the public domain in 2013. According to the official, one consultant will be selected for aerial surveys, ground verification, compilation of land ownership records and mapping, and preparation of GIS-based maps and land use plan. A separate private firm will be tasked with drafting a vision document, a comprehensive master plan and a detailed development strategy for the new town. The surveys and planning work will span 323.4sqkm, nearly half of which currently comprises hills, forest tracts and agricultural land. While the master plan and development strategy are targeted for completion by this Aug, the aerial and on-ground studies alone are expected to take around six to eight months. KSC New Town is also being positioned as part of a push to lift MMR’s GDP to $300 billion in the next five years, aligned with Niti Aayog’s transformation roadmap.
