BMC plans ‘sister city square’ to celebrate Mumbai’s bond with its 15 sister cities

The sister city square will have various tourist attractions for domestic and international tourists

Mumbai: To honour the relationship between Mumbai and its 15 ‘sister cities’ around the world, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is all set to build a ‘sister city square’ at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), which will also serve as a tourist destination.

For more than a decade, subsequent mayors of Mumbai have spearheaded the city’s relationship with these metropolises to promote cultural ties. (REUTERS)

Mumbai has 15 sister cities, including Los Angeles, St Petersburg (Russia), Stuttgart, Yokohama, Honolulu, New York City, Zagreb, Barcelona, Busan, Port of Odessa, Jakarta, Nadi, Antananarivo and Shanghai.

Proposed plan for the sister city square (BMC)

For more than a decade, subsequent mayors of Mumbai have spearheaded the city’s relationship with these metropolises to promote cultural ties, commercial growth, and share knowledge, and signed memorandums of understanding (MoU).

The initiative to create a sister city square in Mumbai is a part of BMC’s tactical urbanism, and a bid to create interactive, pleasant spaces for Mumbaiites and tourists across the city. The sister city square will have various tourist attractions for domestic and international tourists.

As per the draft designs for the plan, an art installation of the globe will mark all 15 of Mumbai’s sister cities. Along with landscaping and beautification, BMC also plans to install flags of these cities. A selfie point will also be set up. There will be information desks for each city, and a help desk for students or tourists who are visiting from these cities.

Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of the G/North ward, civic planning department, now in-charge of implementing tactical urbanism, said, “The idea is to create a space where domestic and foreign tourists can visit, spend time, and interact with their peers. It will also be a landmark that commemorates Mumbai’s tie-up with these international cities. If a tourist from this city visits Mumbai, he or she can return with a memory from a location marking the long-standing relationship between our two cities.”

BMC has also envisioned the square to be a culture exchange zone, to promote interaction between visitors. The idea to create a sister city square was conceived during plans to create places of interaction throughout the city, a meeting with district authorities earlier this week enabled the civic body to finalise the location of the square. It will be constructed through the DPDC funds of Maharashtra Tourism and guardian minister for Mumbai suburbs, Aaditya Thackeray.