Magnetic Maharashtra: Mumbai to get more houses, better transport in 5 years, says CM

Fadnavis said his government was aware about the steep housing cost in the city, which needs five lakh additional houses to make them affordable

The Maharashtra government on Monday promised industry captains and Mumbaiites a complete transformation of the city in the next five years. On the cards is a robust network of the public transport and two lakh houses in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the government was not worried about investment in Mumbai. Its biggest worry, he said, was housing and mobility and the government has planned to transform the city to make it one of the biggest urban agglomerate in the next five years.

The CM said his government was aware about the steep housing cost in the city, which needs five lakh additional houses to make them affordable. (FILE)

The CM said his government was aware about the steep housing cost in the city, which needs five lakh additional houses to make them affordable. He said with the MoUs signed with players from the housing industry,the government will be able to ensure this quota is met in the next few years.

Fadnavis also said the government wants 50 lakh youngsters engaged in farming to shift to other sectors such as manufacturing and service to ensure higher growth rate. He said the 50% population engaged in farming contributes to only 11% of the GDP.

The CM said from Metro to Mono and elevated roads in eastern and western parts as well as public bus system, the government is all set to upgrade commuter mobility. “We are laying the 250-km Metro line, besides upgrading the suburban railways on all the three lines. We have also invested Rs40,000 crore for two elevated corridors announced in the Central budget and RoRo services on the eastern seafront. Construction of the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link will begin in the next few weeks. All these transport modes will be connected with an integrated platform to provide an end-to-end solution to people from every walk of life,” he said.

Fadnavis unveiled his plans to make Maharashtra a trillion-dollar economy at the seminar, Maharashtra: The Journey to a Trillion Dollar Economy, at the Magnetic Maharashtra conclave on Monday.

Fadnavis, while rolling out his plan, said the government planned to train underproductive farm workers, who account for 50% of the population and contribute just 11% of the GDP. He said by providing skilled training to employ them in manufacturing and service sector, the contribution of other sectors could be increased to achieve the goal of a trillion dollar economy by 2025.

“We have set the target of growth at 15% from today rate of 9.4%, which can anyway take the state to 1 trillion dollar club by 2029. To accelerate it we have set the target of agricultural growth at 5.%, industry growth at 12% and the services sector growth at 15.5%. We want contribution of the services sector to the GDP to be 67% and industries 27%,” he said.

Besides skill development for youth in agriculture, the CM said the government thrust would be on unlocking growth in high employment digital economy, ease of doing business policies, public investment in infrastructure projects and connecting developed parts of the state to the undeveloped areas.