Devendra Fadnavis defends new Development Plan, but ready for improvements

Devendra Fadnavis

Amidst criticism and applauds for the new Development Plan (DP) 2034 for the megapolis, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis today defended the plan saying this is a result of "collective wisdom" of various stakeholders and is "unbiased".

"After the implementation of this new DP, construction activities will increase in the city as it has opened a large scope for creating affordable housing to the tune of 1 million," Fadnavis said at the first anniversary celebration of the MahaRera. But he was soon to add that everybody must understand that this DP is not made by a single individual but involved the collective wisdom of various stakeholders and that if need be it cane be looked at again for geneunie imporvements.

"We hope the citizens of this city will accept the plan and in case there is any need for further improvements, we are ready for it," he said. The chief minister also said the plan underwent various scrutiny after incorporating the suggestions and objections raised by various stakeholders and the authorities concerned. "After going through a lengthy process of incorporating various changes over the past so many years, the DP finally came to the scrutiny committee which further scrutinised all the suggestions and objections and finally it was approved by me," Fadnavis said. He further said the main challenge in framing the DP was that we had prepared a plan for a thriving megapolis.

"This is not a DP for a greenfield city but for a brownfield city.. an existing coastal city that is land- starved and we've only 40 per cent of the land available to carry out any kind of expansion. We have the challenge of fitting the development of the city and accordingly make provisions for the next 20 years," Fadnavis said.

He said the plan does not talk about creating buildings but it has taken into consideration a sustainable development of the city which also includes creating affordable homes and employment generation. "We had to also ensure that the open spaces that we have should not reduce. There are certain limitations as it's a brown-field expansion.

But we will incorporate best global practices," he said. Fadnavis further said after the implementation of the DP, the responsibility of the MahaRera will increase. "Since there will be large scale development with the DP, the responsibility of MahaRera will increase. So those projects which were stalled due to absence of any such plan, will not get channalised and it will be the responsibility of the Authority to ensure that the right beneficiaries get affordable homes," he added.

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