WITH AN eye on the civic elections in Mumbai in 2022, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s first budget announced a slew of proposals for the city, including the development of a tourist centre of “international” standard in the 14-acre Worli dairy complex at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore. In his budget speech on Friday, state Finance Minister Ajit Pawar said the complex will include a world-class aquarium and an architect of international repute will be appointed to prepare a detailed project report for the complex. “It will be a state-of-the-art project that will attract tourists from all over the world,” Pawar said. The big-ticket project will come up in Worli, the Assembly constituency represented by state Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray. Targeting the government, BJP leader and Bandra (West) MLA Ashish Shelar, who criticised the budget in a series of tweets, accused the MVA of “usurping” the dairyland for promoting “nightlife” in addition to eying the 225-acre Mahalaxmi Racecourse. “Does swallowing land belonging to Mumbaikars show their love for the environment?” Shelar asked. Pumping up the tourism sector, the budget also included an outlay of Rs 100 crore for various tourism development works to attract domestic as well as foreign tourists. The finance minister also said the government planned to provide Rs 500 crore for promoting tourism in Mumbai over the next five years. This will also include a development plan for Haji Ali, he added. For the two districts that comprise the city, the push for tourism was underscored with an allocation of Rs 100 crore for Mumbai City, which earlier had a token allocation of Rs 1 crore, and an increased allocation from Rs 18.4 crore to Rs 24 crore for Mumbai Suburban. The district plans have budgeted for tourist infrastructure, tourist centres, and grants for basic facilities for tourism development at various places. In what may strengthen tourism facilities in the city and the state, Pawar also announced an outlay of Rs 50 crore proposed for the construction of a jetty at Radio Club, Colaba, under the Sagarmala programme for passenger transport and tourists. Pawar said the construction of jetties for Ro-Ro services was underway at ports including Vasai, Bhayandar, Kharwadeshwari, Manori, Ghodbunder, Narangi, Malvan, Borivali, Gorai and Ambavade and an outlay of Rs 65.76 crore was proposed for this in 2020-21. In what may bolster transport infrastructure in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the finance minister said an in-principle approval had been given to an expenditure of Rs 86 crore for the launch of passenger transport from Mira-Bhayandar to Dombivli on the Vasai-Thane-Kalyan route, as part of the national waterways scheme. Besides Mumbai, nine other municipalities and 27 zilla parishads in the state will also have elections in 2022. Among the budget announcements on Friday was a 1 per cent stamp duty concession, for the next two years, in areas under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and municipal corporations of Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, and Nagpur. A 170-km Ring Road in Pune has been proposed at an expected cost of Rs 15,000 crore. The project is aimed at diverting traffic coming into Pune from Nashik, Aurangabad, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru to outside Pune. The government said the project is expected to be completed in four years. The push to tourism was extended down the coast from Mumbai to Konkan, a Shiv Sena stronghold, that thrives on tourism, fisheries and orchard development. “Even though a marine highway was planned for Konkan, keeping in view the requirement for transportation, the highway project is yet to materialize,” Pawar said in his budget speech. He announced that the Revas-Reddy marine highway which is under development will be concretised and bridges will be constructed over creeks at Bankot, Kelshi, Dabhol, and Jaigad. The project will be completed over the next three years at a cost of Rs 3,500 crore, funded by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation.
