This is a guest post by HUSSAIN INDOREWALA: The draft of Mumbai’s twenty year Development Plan is scheduled for release soon. There is another plan that is worth looking at, if only to get a sense of what the city’s power elite have in mind for its future. This plan may be found on the website of the Mumbai Transformation Support Unit (MTSU) by the name Concept Plan for MMR. Though not a statutory document, it claims to become the “guiding framework” for all the subsequent Development Plans in the MMR region, and also the basis for local sectoral schemes on transportation, infrastructure, housing, industrial development, and others.
Mumbai’s Concept Plan
In May 2011, a Singapore based planning firm, Surbana Corporation, with experience in planning for cities in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, submitted a “Concept Plan” for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) to the MTSU. The object of the plan is to provide a “long-term development framework which directs future investments and urban growth in the region.”[1] With a population of 37 million, by 2032 the MMR will become a “world class metropolis,” with a “vibrant economy” and “globally competitive quality of life.” By 2052, with a population of 44 million, the Region will be “elevated” to become a “Global City,” recognised around the world as an “international business hub, a leading technological innovator, a melting pot of local and cosmopolitan cultures, and a centre of excellence for urban environmental management.”
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 