The Mumbai Metropolitan Region is preparing for a major transformation with the development of the Third and Fourth Mumbai. These two new cities are being planned to improve the local economy and the region’s global profile as a financial centre.
The MMR is a growing region that includes Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburban, and parts of Palghar, Thane, and Raigad districts. Covering 6,328 square kilometres, it is home to over two crore people. The state government sees this region as key to Maharashtra’s USD 1.5 trillion economy target.
Navi Mumbai was originally created to ease the burden on Mumbai. Now, the Third Mumbai will further expand this vision. CIDCO is leading the project.
Third Mumbai:
The city is being built around the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport. This area falls under the Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area, or NAINA, located in Raigad district.
NAINA will cover 323.44 square kilometres and include 124 villages:
- 80 villages are from NAINA
- 33 from the Khopta New Town Notified Area
- 2 under the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Plan
- 9 from the Raigad Regional Plan.
This new city will be connected by key infrastructure projects like the Mumbai-Pune Motorway and the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link, also called Atal Setu.
Plans for the third Mumbai include several focused zones like a Cyber Security Centre, Sports City and an Edu-City with ten major universities.
Fourth Mumbai:
Work has already begun on planning the Fourth Mumbai. This new city will be built in the Palghar district.
It will be centred around two large infrastructure projects: a greenfield airport and the upcoming Vadhavan Port.
Vadhavan Port will be located about 140 kilometres from Mumbai, near the Maharashtra-Gujarat border, and will be three times the size of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port. The port will be developed by Vadhavan Port Project Ltd, a special purpose company. It has been formed by the Maharashtra Maritime Board and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority. The ownership is divided 74:26 between the two.