MMRDA Set to Begin Auction for Wadala Central Business District

Mumbai: With its land bank in BKC all sold out, MMRDA is poised to soon begin auctioning plots in the city's third central business district (CBD)—a 156-hectare land parcel in Wadala. MMRDA commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee told TOI that the planning authority will initiate the auctioning process in the next two months. “Wadala’s development has been included in the economic master plan of MMR jointly prepared by Niti Aayog and MMRDA. As per that plan, MMRDA is moving ahead with Wadala’s development and the process will commence in the next two to three months,” he said.

MMRDA is also seeking to keep up the momentum of real estate prices. In June this year, Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo paid Rs 2,238 crore for a 3-acre plot in BKC.

At Wadala, earlier designated as a truck terminal, MMRDA is now negotiating relocation plans with Bombay Goods Transport Association (BGTA). Abhishek Gupta, vice-president of BGTA, confirmed that discussions are underway. “The discussion to relocate the truck terminal started in 2018, but since then, there has been no conclusion. There are many transport offices here and these can't be shut down even for a day. We have conveyed to the authority that we would like to be relocated on this plot as there is a lot of open space available. Phase 2 of the truck terminal was never executed,” he said.

In 2018, the state government decided to transform Wadala into a mixed-use central business district with a transit-oriented development. The proposed CBD is strategically located between Eastern Freeway and Atal Setu, connecting it to Thane and Navi Mumbai. It can be accessed via the harbour railway line, the monorail, and the proposed Metro-4 (Wadala-Thane-Kasarvadavli).

Currently, MMRDA's biggest infrastructure project is the Rs 1 lakh-crore Metro line network. Overall, it has envisaged an investment of Rs 3 lakh-crore in various infrastructure works. In 2022, the state government allowed it to raise a loan of Rs 60,000 crore for infrastructure works. The BKC land bank has been MMRDA's biggest asset, which it has encashed from time to time to raise funds for various infrastructure projects undertaken in MMR. From a marshland to setting the real estate rates across the city and beyond, BKC has over 300 buildings, which have come up in phases since the mid-1980s. It was in 1977 that the state government decided to develop it into a commercial hub to decongest the overcrowded island city, especially the southern tip of Nariman Point, home of the city's first CBD.

All eyes will now be on whether the opening up of Wadala will take business offices back to the island city or towards the much-touted Mumbai 3 across the trans harbour link.