MUMBAI: The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority has proposed to develop a 350 sq km settlement across the city harbour, a top official said on Friday. The authority is aiming to make the region as the fastest growing growing centre in the country in the next decade on the back of Navi Mumbai International Airport and the Mumbai Transharbour Link (MTHL), its commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee said. “From MMRDA, we have proposed a new town where the MTHL lands. MTHL is supposed to be a game changer,” Mukherjee said in an address to realty developers at an event organised by the industry lobby Naredco here.

He said the “town” will have an area of 350 sq km. It can be noted that the size of Mumbai is over 600 sq km, while that of Navi Mumbai is 344 sq km and the Naina city being planned by Cidco next door is 370 sq km. 

Mukherjee said the proposed town is different from Naina and declined to share further details. He said the body is planning to make it among the few settlements in the country where infrastructure like transport connectivity is developed before the buildings come up. He said MTHL and NMIA will each boost the national GDP by 1 percentage point, which will turn the Navi Mumbai region into a hotspot for economic activity. The 160-hectare Bandra Kurla Complex business district, also developed by the MMRDA a few decades ago, contributes 2.8 per cent of the national GDP, he said. Mukherjee said 2025 will be a “watermark” year in the megapolis' infrastructure journey, and pointed out that a slew of projects being undertaken now will get fructified then. Work on the NMIA is also slated to finish by 2024-end, he added. PTI