Navi Mumbai couldn’t decongest Mumbai. Can Third Mumbai do so?

Here’s how the idea came about, where it stands in terms of development, and what experts have to say about its viability.

Idea of Third Mumbai

Around the time that the Atal Setu — a 21.8 km-long sea bridge connecting South Mumbai and Navi Mumbai — was to open to the public in early 2024, the idea of Third Mumbai started taking shape. Both the bridge and the NMIA were believed to add to Raigad’s potential. Third Mumbai was the instrument to capture the land value created by the public infrastructure, to make the Rs 17,000 crore project economically viable, and strategically plan out the development that the infrastructure is bound to attract.

In March 2024, Maharashtra’s Urban Development department invited suggestions and objections on the contours of KSC New Town. This was followed by an official notification, appointing the MMRDA as the New Town Development Authority (NTDA), tasked with developing the area from scratch. Parts of the area under the Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (NAINA), which was announced in 2013, and Khopta New Town Notified Area were enveloped into the new town.

Current status

Several wheels are turning to turn the idea into a plan, and that plan into a reality.

First, the creation of a land use plan: essentially a thorough map of what currently exists in the area. Much of the vast land is villages, forests, and green areas, which will be left as they are, dwindling the developable area to around 104 sq km. Farmlands are next, which are on the cards to be acquired. There are also warehouses, owing to the proximity of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (located in Nhava Sheva near Uran), which are not to be disturbed yet, pending a policy decision.

The process of land acquisition was set off in March 2026, laying down options for compensation. Villagers have multiple options for compensation, from 22.5% in developed land, monetary compensation, or compensation as transferable development rights (TDR) or floor space index (FSI). While compensation as FSI grants extra building rights directly on the same plot, TDR gives FSI credits through a certificate that can be used on another plot or sold in the open market.

In April, the MMRDA began the preliminary phases of land acquisition by inviting farmers and land owners to submit their contest for acquisition. This has been slow to come, with several villages opposing the project as a “land grab”.

The opposing villagers have delayed the land use plan, as the final parts of the survey involve a close reading of the ground (called “ground truthing”). By August end, however, the land use plan is expected to be ready, allowing for planning to begin.

For the grand plan of the developable portions, the MMRDA has engaged Singapore-based urban development consulting firm Surbana Jurong. This company will plan Third Mumbai’s layout, while also thinking about transport infrastructure and basic utilities. This will be ready in six months to the day it begins. 

Part plan showing boundary of KSC New Town (Third Mumbai). Photo: MMRDA; image enhanced using AI.

Vision for the area

In the past, the government and urban planners have tried to decongest Mumbai with other planned centres like Navi Mumbai. NAINA too was planned to develop the airport influence area.

Although Navi Mumbai now has a thriving population, urban planners take a dismal view of how Navi Mumbai has turned out. Navi Mumbai had its beginnings in the early 1970s, spearheaded by urban planning stalwarts like Shirish Patel and Charles Correa, who envisioned a structured city with higher FSI near transport nodes and lower FSI further away. But this plan stumbled, and Navi Mumbai has taken decades to establish itself. Only in recent years, sales of residential properties and rates have been on the slight uptick.

“In the heady planning of Navi Mumbai, the most important factor of mass rapid transport was left out,” said Gulam Zia from the real estate research consultancy Knight Frank. “Today, while it may have a population, the huge majority is dependent on the local trains to commute to mainland Mumbai for work, because employment has not picked up in Navi Mumbai.”

The local railway line was only extended to Navi Mumbai in the 1990s. According to Zia, even that is not enough. He said, “A mass rapid transport needs to be very fast, around 200 kmph so people can comfortably make the long distance travel daily,” he said. Even the Atal Setu has come many years too late and is only affordable to a select few.

A satellite city works when it knows its population will still have strings to the mainland, said Zia. People will continue working in Mumbai and having family there, but if the area is to attract people with a better quality of life and cheaper rents to reside far away, rapid public transport is needed to afford people a dignified life. Even today, local trains to Panvel are infrequent and take long. And once people flock, offices too will have a cause to consider the area.

NAINA, on the other hand, has only just begun to take off. CIDCO, the state government-owned planning authority for NAINA, has recently called for a tender of Rs 8,000 crore to get cracking on basic utility and roads for a section of the city. 

Investor sentiment

Early investors have already started trying to catch people interested in a prospective home in Third Mumbai. For now, investors will have to transact directly with the landowners, hoping to bargain for a better price. Once the MMRDA acquires the land, investors will go to the MMRDA to stake their claim.

Zia said, “If the MMRDA takes on the initiative on ensuring basic facilities and good mass rapid transport, the area will thrive naturally.” A metro line between Mumbai and the NMIA is already in the works, and there are plans to make NMIA a stop on the proposed Mumbai-Hyderabad High Speed Rail line.

Officials in the MMRDA said, “We are working on Third Mumbai now, but city making is a long term plan. Nothing is going to bear fruit in the next five to 10 years, but after that, once the basic infrastructure is in place, the returns will pour in.”