Interview/ Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister, Maharashtra
Q/ What is the Third Mumbai project about?
We are developing the NAINA city (Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area) near the new airport. This city will be larger than Pune, and, with the exception of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, is the largest municipal corporation in terms of area. Pune covers 500sqkm; Third Mumbai will cover 575sqkm. Currently, 60 per cent of the country’s data centre capacity is being established in this area. We are building a GCC city, an edu-city, a sports city, a medi-city and an innovation city.
Q/ What about land acquisition?
CIDCO’s 40:60 land acquisition model is now well established (people who give land to CIDCO for infrastructure development get back 40 per cent as developed plots). People have realised that the value of the land they get quadruples. We have also implemented a pass-through mechanism—if an entity requires 100 acres, the government will acquire it, and the company will pay. For the innovation city, participants initially requested 300 acres, but we are targeting 1,000 acres. The edu-city will accommodate 1 lakh students, so we are acquiring 200 acres for it.
Q/ What about other projects?
We have started work on two ring roads in Pune—the inner and the outer. This will lead to a value creation of Rs2.5 lakh crore. Our goal is to create a GCC corridor from Third Mumbai to Pune. GCCs are the next wave after the IT boom, and 25 per cent of all GCCs in India are located in this region. We are developing a GCC city with MMRDA as the lead player and will soon announce significant GCC investments there.
Q/ How much investment do you foresee coming into the Navi Mumbai–Third Mumbai belt?
My estimate is that it will initially attract investments worth Rs15 lakh crore.
Q/ What about jobs?
I don’t have an exact figure right now, but the potential for job creation is huge.
Q/ You have also spoken about Fourth Mumbai; where will that be?
We are planning Fourth Mumbai around the Vadhavan port.