Navi Mumbai: A New Dawn on the Horizon
No city in India has frustrated its optimists for as long as Navi Mumbai has. When it began its journey as a brand-new planned city in the 1970s, the aim was to decongest a crowded and unplanned Mumbai. The size of this city was 50 per cent smaller than Mumbai. The foundation was strong; as was the execution. Homes, gardens, roads, water-supply, sewage system, etc., were developed. All it needed was the setting up of offices for Navi Mumbai to be on the path of becoming a metropolis in its own right. Keep in mind that this was the 1970s and 1980s, where government was a key employment provider. The plan was to shift government offices from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai.
Then something happened. The government abandoned its plans to relocate their offices to the new city. The rumoured reasons have been several: From political opposition to employee resistance to even Mumbai builders fearing irrelevance if the centre of economic geography shifted to Navi Mumbai. In that move, the anchor which would have heralded the rise of Navi Mumbai was deflated. It became another new but poorly connected suburb of Mumbai where people lived but never worked. Mumbai had the vibe and spice while Navi Mumbai was dull and bland. Navi Mumbai 1.0 had failed.
In the 1990s, grand plans for the Navi Mumbai airport were announced. Even for the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link. The plans remained only on paper. It got its first glamour moment when it built its own Marine Drive – the Palm Beach Road. And private builders were included in shaping the destiny of the new city. The city, however, was caught napping when the IT boom happened and Bangalore led the way. When the new millennium began, a giant private company led the march of employment, as Reliance Industries set up its corporate park. The movement from others was slow but in the right direction. Migration into the city was steady. Property prices, however, jumped on the back of migration as well as speculation. For most, the city was surprisingly expensive. Navi Mumbai 2.0 was only a partial success.
It is the last decade that has been the most energetic for Navi Mumbai. The hype over infrastructure projects has been realised, with the airport and Atal Setu coming up. More public infrastructure projects are lined up. It had lost out to Thane in providing a township experience at affordable home prices. In a way, it was squeezed between the vibrant Mumbai and the affordable Thane. Now the city is being expanded to a scale wherein the townships are available, and Navi Mumbai’s size is 50% bigger than even Mumbai. For the first time, it is occupying centre-stage in the corridor of power.
The big opportunity is in Navi Mumbai becoming an alternative for companies who otherwise ignore the region due to the costs. Rental costs for offices in Navi Mumbai are on par with Hyderabad and 15 per cent lower than Bangalore. It is the region where the top three conglomerates of India are betting heavily.
All of this does not mean that Navi Mumbai’s rise is unstoppable. Cities are hard to build even with the best governance as it involves making people move from their comfort zone into an unknown zone. Everyone waits for the other to do it and then no one moves. Or they move slowly. Even municipal governance, which was once the strength, is now weakening.
But for once, the cards are stacked in favour of Navi Mumbai. It may have frustrated the optimists, but Navi Mumbai 3.0 may just be the phase which makes it a success.
