State govt mulls business hub on Worli Dairy land, urban planners question logic

Accordingly, MMRDA has planned to develop the Worli land parcel as a business hub. A further call will now be taken by the state government. Monetisation of prime land parcels like this one helps MMRDA fund infrastructure projects

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government is considering setting up a business hub on the 16.25-acre plot at Worli that once housed its dairy development department. Urban planners have questioned the logic of yet creating another concrete jungle in a choked city that already has several business hubs, and have suggested that a world-class urban green park be developed on the space instead.

Mumbai, India - Dec. 28, 2023: A view of the Worli Dairy in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, December 28, 2023. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

In a recent MMRDA board meeting with chief minister Eknath Shinde, a proposal to appoint MMRDA as a special planning authority to develop the land occupied by the defunct dairies at Worli and Kurla was approved. Accordingly, MMRDA has planned to develop the Worli land parcel as a business hub. A further call will now be taken by the state government. Monetisation of prime land parcels like this one helps MMRDA fund infrastructure projects.

This is the fourth plan in a decade for the Worli Dairy land from successive governments. In 2012, after the union environment ministry objected to the proposal to build a statue of Chatrapati Shivaji in the Arabian Sea, the state government mulled the idea of building it on the Worli land. Later, during BJP-Shiv Sena government reign under chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, other ideas of monetising the Worli dairy land were discussed, the price of land at that time estimated at 15,000 crore.

In 2020, during the MVA reign, then tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray had a more environmentally friendly plan, and the Uddhav Thackeray government transferred the land to the urban development department to construct a tourist complex, comprising an urban forest and an aquarium. There were also plans to have a marine research centre, an exhibition centre and an underground car parking complex.

After the change in government in June 2022, Aaditya Thackeray’s plan was scrapped and the land was given back to the dairy development department. Earlier this year, dairy development minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil had indicated that the government was planning to develop a convention centre there. The Shinde government also appointed a seven-member cabinet sub-committee headed by deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis to consider plans to develop the land. Now after the recent meeting at Nagpur, it has come to light that MMRDA has been appointed to decide the fate of the land.

Urban planners are unhappy with the proposal. “The business hub will be nothing but another concrete jungle leading to more traffic issues and air pollution in Worli,” said Chandrashekhar Prabhu, adding that such flamboyant ideas were planted in the minds of leaders by people with vested interests. “For one, the government is taking away an open space that belongs to the public. If it must develop the land, it should create a world-class urban park for the city with gardens, play areas for children and food courts. This will promote the tourism business, create employment and give Mumbai a new green tourist spot.”

Pankaj Joshi, principal director of the Mumbai-based Urban Centre Trust, said that instead of a purely business hub, the government could consider mixed land use, which would ensure a green space for public utilisation in addition to offices. “Lots of residential projects are coming up in the Worli area, so the area needs open space and employment space as part of urban planning,” he said.

Sachin Ahir, MLC of the Thackeray faction who represented Worli constituency between 2009 and 2014, said that Aaditya Thackeray’s plan for an aquarium and open space was the only one in the public interest. “The land would have remained open in this plan,” he said. “Now we hear the state government has only commercial objectives. The plan must be in the public interest—we will raise our voices if it is in the interest of some private entity.”