State Government plans to develop infrastructure, knowledge-based industries around Neral-Karjat region

Government is committed to develop Neral-Karjat, Panvel and NAINA as Mumbai 3.0. At least 50 % of Mumbai Slum can be accommodated at Neral-Karjat – An affordable City Mumbai 3.0.

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Mumbai: The state government is taking all the necessary steps to provide the necessary infrastructure for the people. “We plan to develop infrastructure, knowledge-based industries and research centres around the Neral- Karjat region. Considering this the government has taken various infrastructure projects,” stated Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday.

He said this while addressing the NAREDCO organized Manthan – Affordable City Initiative, the NAREDCO Progressive Neral-Karjat and the Neral-Karjat chapter of the apex real estate industry body – NAREDCO, via a video message.

Fadnavis stated that many of these projects would be completed by the year 2023. “This would offer a seamless connectivity to the people of MMR. A representation has also been received to develop the Panvel-Bhimashankar highway and convert it into a Multimodal corridor,” he informed. He added that the four lanes of Kalyan-Badlapur highway would be extended to Karjat railway station to facilitate more local service to the growing population with an intention to provide affordable housing along with proper infrastructure.

Addressing the gathering at the Manthan Affordable City initiative through a video link, S V R Srinivas, Additional Chief Secretary & Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA pointed out that the residents of the MMR regions are living in one of the best times.

“A lot of infrastructure projects like the Mumbai-Trans Harbour Link project (MTHL) and the Metro projects are either complete or at the completion stage. This would also free a lot of land for development,” he said. Srinivas informed that strengthening the transport connectivity would transform the city in more than one way to come.

Dr Niranjan Hiranandani, National Vice Chairman, NAREDCO stated that due to a lot of infrastructure activities undertaken by the government, the centre of gravity is constantly shifting. “Imagine, it took almost 60 years to develop 190 kms of railways, but in the next 5 years almost 300 kms of Metro rail would be set up. Due to such activities a lot of land would be opened for development,” he informed.

According to Gautam Thacker, Chairman, NAREDCO Neral-Karjat there is a huge shortage of affordable housing in the country.

“With growing urbanization, the idea is not just to provide cheap houses, but also to provide the infrastructure associated with it. So, people should be able to travel to the places of employment at ease. This was the idea behind organizing Manthan whereby we invited all the stakeholders like policymakers, town planners, and property developers to deliberate on ways to ease the issues faced by the people of Mumbai,” he said.

Thacker informed that the idea is to develop a carbon neutral region with the proper infrastructure and connected to multi-nodal points which would offer smooth connectivity to the residents there.

On the occasion, a report by NAREDCO-Knight Frank titled ‘Brick by Brick: Reimagining Affordable Mumbai’ was also launched. According to the report, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) recorded a significant demand-supply gap for affordable housing.

The report cited that MMR registered high demand for affordable housing units with 67% of the demand concentration being registered for units less than Rs 2.5 million. The demand concentration for housing units in the range of Rs 2.5 – 5.0 million was recorded at 13% and units above Rs 5 million at 20%.

Despite the strong interest in this segment, the affordable housing supply has not been able to cater to the demand. The supply of housing units above Rs 5 million recorded the highest concentration at 44% followed by units in the range of Rs 2.5 – 5 million at 34%. The supply concentration for housing units less than Rs 2.5 million was recorded the lowest at 22%, clearly showcasing the huge supply gap for urban affordable housing in the region.

The President of NAREDCO Neral-Karjat, Dinesh Doshi stated that the mantra today is more about affordable housing. “The government needs to look at more ways to get the infrastructure in place. The law makers need to support the city which would go a long way in helping the common man,” he said.