Originally conceived as a satellite city to Mumbai, Navi Mumbai is today one of the fastest-growing cities in India. New developments, including an international airport, many SEZs and a smart city will result in further acceleration of growth
By N.B. Rao | Pic.: Parita Shah
IT is one of the largest planned cities in the world, a satellite city that has been growing at breakneck pace, but minus the congestion, traffic snarls, pollution and haphazard planning that are the bane of any Indian city.
Navi Mumbai, the 350 sq km city across the harbour and east of Mumbai, is today one of the most vibrant urban hubs in the country. Way back in the mid-1960s, the Maharashtra government took a bold decision to develop a satellite city to the east of Mumbai to ensure balanced growth and to act as a counter-magnet.
India’s financial and commercial capital was growing at a frightening pace, and the planning authorities were unable to keep pace with the developments. Being an island, surrounded on all sides by the sea and creeks, Mumbai had no place to grow. For that, one had to seek opportunities in the hinterland.
The Navi Mumbai project began in 1971 with the formation of the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), a Maharashtra government company. The project area was spread across about 350 sq km and contained nearly 100 villages in the districts of Thane and Raigad.
Leading architects and urban planners of the day, including the late Charles Correa, Shirish Patel and R.K. Jha, were involved in drawing up the plan. They envisioned a city comprising over a dozen mini towns or nodes, each to be connected to the other with wide roads and possibly even railway networks.
Cidco as the master planner was to develop the infrastructure – including water supply, electricity, sewerage systems and roads. There were to be separate industrial, commercial, residential, government, educational and entertainment zones. Thus, central business district (CBD) Belapur was envisioned as an office district and a government hub.
Kharghar was to be an educational and residential zone, Mahape as an IT and technology node and Vashi as a retail hub.
Says Subhankar Mitra, local director – strategic consulting, JLL India: “Today, Navi Mumbai’s success as a city is vouchsafed by its tremendous growth over time. In a span of four decades, it has not only caught up with the existing settlements but has also become the second-largest settlement city within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) in terms of population share.”
According to the Census of India figures, Navi Mumbai saw a frenzied growth of 88 per cent over the past decade, the highest in the MMR, an urban sprawl that includes eight municipal corporations and cities – Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Doimbivali, Vasai-Virar, Mira-Bhayandar, Bhiwandi-Nizampur and Ulhasnagar
Mira-Bhayandar came next with a growth of 57 per cent, followed by Thane (52 per cent). Mumbai witnessed a growth of just four per cent in the past decade. But more importantly, Navi Mumbai (which accounts for 10 per cent of the MMR population) has a population density of just 6,382 people per sq km, as against 20,680 for Mumbai, and 11,618 for Thane.
Navi Mumbai was slow to take-off and for the first 20 years there was hardly any growth. But the extension of Mumbai’s suburban railway corridor – the Harbour line on Central Railway – from Mankhurd to Vashi and then to Belapur and finally Panvel triggered off a rush. Developers began putting up residential colonies and commercial and retail facilities in Navi Mumbai.
The extension of the suburban railway line, linking Vashi (and later Panvel) to Thane boosted growth in the northern parts of Navi Mumbai. Today, the entire Navi Mumbai corridor, from Airoli in the north to Panvel in the south – a distance of about 30 km – is one of the fastest-growing belts in India.
One of the major triggers for growth in Navi Mumbai in recent years has been the announcement by the Maharashtra government of the setting up of a greenfield international airport at Panvel. Mumbai’s existing airport at Santacruz has reached saturation point and will be unable to cater to the future needs of the metropolis.
While the initial approval for the new airport came in 2007, there was a long delay of about eight years because of the failure of the government to get the necessary environmental and other
clearances from the centre. But now with all the necessary approvals in, work is expected to accelerate and the new airport will be ready by the end of 2018. The Rs150 billion project will be completed in four phases.
The Maharashtra government is also planning to revive the much-delayed Sewri-Nhava-Sheva trans-harbour link, which was originally planned in the 1980s. This will cut down travel time from south and central Mumbai to the Panvel airport drastically.
Indeed, Panvel is emerging as a major magnet in Navi Mumbai. Last year, the state government widened the Sion-Panvel highway, making it a 10-lane artery. The 100-km-long Mumbai-Pune expressway also begins at Panvel. The government is also planning to allow real estate developments along the expressway over the coming years. The government has also approved special economic zones at Dronagiri, Ulwe and Kalamboli.
Property prices in and around Panvel, Kharghar, Ulwe, Kamothe, Karanjade, Dronagiri and other Navi Mumbai nodes have started rising as developers, hotel chains and investors are acquiring vast tracts of land.
Prices in Kharghar, one of the most well-planned nodes, shot up by 87 per cent between 2007 and 2012 after the announcement of the airport. Prices have also increased by 32 per cent over the past three years. In Panvel, residential property prices went up by 74 per cent between 2007 and 2012, and by nine per cent over the last three years.
The state government has also announced plans for a smart city – dubbed Naina, or the Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area – near the international airport. Work on the Navi Mumbai metro is also progressing.
Unlike Mumbai, Navi Mumbai has a lot of room for growth. It can expand towards Uran, Karjat-Khopoli (which are at the foothills of the western ghats), Pen and even towards Pune. The city already has a major port, Nhava-Sheva, which is one of the largest container ports in the country.
It has got good rail connectivity, with Panvel being one of the major stations on the Konkan Railway.
Fortunately, unlike the other corporations in the MMR, Navi Mumbai does not have problems of unauthorised constructions or slum colonies. Cities like Ulhasnagar, Kalyan-Dombivali and Vasai-Virar have hundreds of illegal buildings, which have come up haphazardly in recent years.
Property prices in Navi Mumbai are also affordable, especially when compared to prices in Mumbai. Palm Beach road, dubbed Navi Mumbai’s Marine Drive, has several modern residential and office towers. Prices here range between Rs15,000 and Rs20,000 a sqft for apartments. And in Vashi, the commercial hub of Navi Mumbai, apartments are available at prices ranging between Rs10,000 and Rs18,000.
While Navi Mumbai has seen remarkable growth over the past decade, its future is even more promising, especially with the new international airport likely to transform this planned and well-designed city.