Thane: New business district planned across 1300 acre around bullet train station

The work on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train route is in full swing. Now, information is coming that preparations are underway to set up a business hub (Central Business District) in an area of more than 1,300 acres around the bullet train station to be built at Dativali in Thane.

“The central government is preparing a Local Area Plan for the area around the Thane bullet train station,” Thane Municipal Corporation Commissioner Saurabh Rao told Hindustan Times.

“This new commercial district that we are planning will be more advanced than the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC),” he said.

On Tuesday, the Thane Municipal Corporation issued the first notification for development around the Thane bullet train station under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966. The Thane Municipal Corporation will prepare a local development plan for this 1,300-acre area. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will guide it, the notification said.

According to this, the plan includes parts of the villages of Dativali, Mhatradi, Betwade and Agasan in the Thane Municipal Corporation limits. It will also include parts of the villages of Aire, Kopar, Bhopar, Nandivali Turf Panchanand, Katai and Usarghar in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) limits.

The Commissioner and Administrator of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation have stated that they have given their consent to the integrated development plan of this area through a letter to the Thane Municipal Corporation on November 7, 2024. The notification also states that on January 7 this year, the state's Urban Development Department had given the responsibility of preparing a local development plan to the Thane Municipal Corporation.

The bullet train route will start from BKC and will enter Gujarat via Thane, Bhiwandi, Palghar and Dahanu, passing through Maharashtra.

“Most of the area around the four bullet train stations in Maharashtra is still undeveloped. The bullet train will directly connect BKC. The urban development department feels that new townships can be built in this area,” an official associated with the project told Hindustan Times.