Not so empowered,after all

If these concepts had indeed seen the light of day,by now the city’s major waterfronts would have had beautiful marinas,while pedestrians could have had pavements that are clean and spruced up with the city’s corporates nurturing them. The Tata Group and Godrej Group had even come forward to adopt two arterial roads for this. Similarly,Anand Jain had offered to construct a jetty at Gateway of India free of cost. The plans,however,have still not gone through.

The upcoming Metro stations,instead of being surrounded by traffic-ridden unplanned roads and haphazardly-located structures,would have been flanked by broad roads and planned growth. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) would have truly been on its way to becoming a mega city with a 40-year concept plan drafted by experts from Singapore already under implementation. Also,South Mumbai’s major recreational grounds could have blended into one Central Park-line sprawl with walkways connecting the major recreational grounds in the area.

“The empowered committee was a good experiment,but has not borne the desired fruits. Multiple agencies involved,such as the civic body and MMRDA,never cooperated. There is absolute lack of political will in terms of a push by local MPs and MLAs,” said an urban planning expert,who regularly attends the committee meetings.

However,despite the stumbling blocks in taking some of its major suggestions forward,the committee has still managed to fast track some major infrastructure projects,such as the creation of a master plan for Metro connectivity and accelerating work on the Bandra-Worli sea link. It also managed to transform a few concepts into actual projects,such as beautification of the underbelly of the Vile Parle flyover,commissioning a long-term vision plan for the city and roping in residents’ associations to nurture the Marine Drive promenade. Private sector members from Bombay First,who are part of the committee,also used their network to provide more expertise to the city’s security services. On one occasion,they brought in officers from the Scotland Yard to train 20 officers from the Mumbai Police in crisis management and hostage negotiation. Similarly,these members had advised the state government to adopt the CCTV surveillance system of the London Metropolitan Police and had even organised a visit to the city for home department officials and the Mumbai Police to study the system.

Banthia met the private sector representatives in April this year following poor and irregular attendance in meetings of the committee in the past six months. Few proposals were materialising and implementation of projects had slowed down,though not necessarily due to the waning interest of the corporates. There was also criticism by some activists and experts that most of the proposals are confined to the development of South Mumbai or the island city.

“We recently had an informal meeting with the private sector members to discuss how we can make the committee more effective,” said Banthia. He has also suggested revising the list of members by inviting new people from the corporate world,especially banks,finance,oil companies and public sector undertakings.

Six projects that could have made a difference Development of waterfronts: This concept was discussed way back in 2006. The empowered committee also had a dialogue with the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) regarding the beautification of eastern water fronts,during which parts of Ferry Wharf were identified for the development of a commercial marina. There was also an idea of unlocking and developing the vast stretch of MbPT land. “We brought in experts from London and they identified certain areas that could be developed. A core committee of the MbPT was set up,but they uncovered several legal obstacles to the project and no further action took place,” Nayar said. Also,any decision pertaining to MbPT is not a local decision and rests with the central government. Empowered committee members say this proposal was never pushed for Centre’s nod.

Beautification and maintenance of pavements: Conceived in the early days of the committee,this project did not seem as time-consuming to execute as it turned out. Anand Mahindra and Noel Tata had stressed on the need to keep Mumbai’s pavements clean and encroachment-free,following which corporate houses had shown willingness to adopt and maintain them on a voluntary basis. However,despite the project’s apparent simplicity,the project has not materialised till date. The committee had narrowed down on two roads — P D’mello and Senapati Bapat Marg — to test the execution of the concept. Although the Tata Group and Godrej Group had decided to come forward for nurturing pavements on the two roads,the plan failed to take off as the corporate houses kept waiting for a formal note from the BMC outlining their participation.

Development of areas surrounding upcoming Metro stations: In 2009,the committee had discussed redeveloping the circle of influences around upcoming Metro stations in a planned manner. This would have not only ensured orderly growth around mass transit areas with wider roads,appropriate traffic dispersal and modern structures,but would have also helped in generating funds to finance future infrastructure projects.

In 2010,since the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro was under way,the Mumbai Transformation Support Unit (MTSU),a state government think tank,presented a proposal for redevelopment around the Nanavati Hospital station on the Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd Metro. But the corridor never took off. According to a senior MMRDA official,which is implementing Metro corridors in Mumbai,the development authority had sent a proposal to the state government about developing circles of influence around Metro stations three years ago and is still awaiting a reply.

40-year concept plan: In 2008,Bombay First had made a presentation to the empowered committee on the need for a physical concept plan that will guide the development of the city till 2052. Accordingly,in 2010,the MTSU engaged Singapore’s Surbana International for the task. The concept plan envisages sprawling townships at Alibaug-Pen,Panvel,Kalyan,Bhiwandi and Vasai-Virar,a third airport in Rewas,a hi-tech industrial ring in Navi Mumbai and large-scale redevelopment of the existing inner city. The concept plan attributes every area in the MMR a specific purpose for development. For instance,Ulhasnagar would be the electronic city,Bhiwandi a fashion and design hub,Kalyan-Dombivali an automotive centre,Uran a port and logistics hub,while the Mumbai inner city would be an international business centre. Although the MTSU was ready to present the concept plan to the state government since August 2011,it is yet to be appraised by the government. This is because as per norms the concept plan is to be approved by a Metropolitan Planning Committee,which as of this date does not exist. Meanwhile,urban local bodies,such as the BMC and Thane Municipal Corporation,are close to finalising long-term development plans for their own jurisdictions,while the main concept plan — which is supposed to be guiding this planning — has still not been put in place. Bombay First and MTSU have of late been aggressively pushing for the quick formation of a Metropolitan Planning Committee to get the concept plan through.

Setting up of Mumbai Development Fund: In September 2006,the secretary (special projects) of the state government had initiated the proposal of a Mumbai Development Fund,which could be tapped into for major infrastructure projects. In 2008,in one of its meetings,the empowered committee had noted that since it was not possible to create a new fund in the government,a proposal should be placed before the cabinet for creating a development fund within the MMRDA for the infrastructure development of the MMR. The proposal was discussed again in 2010 when the committee recommended that the fund should be set up at the earliest and for the time being,funds generated through the premium on grant of additional floor space index can be deposited in it. The MMRDA,whose cash reserves are likely to deplete over the next few decades,had also sent a proposal to the state government to levy a development fee on all property transactions in areas surrounding major infrastructure projects in Mumbai,such as the Metro and monorail. However,the concept remains to be a proposal despite several rounds of discussions and a formal request to the state government by the MMRDA.

Walkways in South Mumbai: The committee had discussed a pedestrianisation plan to connect the major commercial hubs in South Mumbai,such as CST,Churchgate and Nariman Point. There was a parallel plan to amalgamate Oval,Cross and Azad Maidan into a central park. However,after detailed discussion,the committee reached the conclusion that instead of amalgamating the three grounds,the BMC could consider joining only Azad Maidan and Cross Maidan by underpasses. The committee had also recommended that the BMC,in a separate project,carry out the beautification of areas from CST to Churchgate and Nariman Point by comprehensive cleaning and removal of unwarranted obstructions.