Suhail Bhat
Mumbai, Oct 8: Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) Chief, Town and Country Planning Division, Shankar C. Deshpande, today expressed readiness to collaborate with the Srinagar and Jammu municipalities to exchange knowledge, ideas, and best practices in urban planning and infrastructure management.
Deshpande made the remarks while addressing a delegation of journalists from Jammu and Kashmir who visited the MMRDA headquarters in Mumbai as part of the Press Information Bureau’s (PIB) media outreach tour.
He said that the municipalities of Mumbai and Kashmir can learn significantly from each other’s experiences and challenges. “This exchange of thoughts and best practices will help us adopt innovative approaches that work well in both regions,” he said.
Deshpande emphasized that each region has its own identity and requires localized strategies. “Each place is unique in its own way, and the solutions to problems should be tailor-made to suit local conditions. While Mumbai can learn from Kashmir’s sustainable, community-driven models, Kashmir can benefit from our experience in large-scale infrastructure planning, finance, and urban management,” he added.
Providing a broader picture of Mumbai’s development model, he shared that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), India’s financial and economic hub, spans 6,328 square kilometres and houses over 25 million people, contributing nearly 5 percent of India’s GDP. “MMR contributes 36 percent of India’s corporate tax, 33 percent of income tax, and handles nearly 70 percent of the country’s maritime trade through ports like JNPT,” he said, adding that the region remains the country’s largest contributor to financial and industrial growth.
However, Deshpande acknowledged that Mumbai faces several pressing challenges, including traffic congestion, flooding, housing shortages, and environmental pressures. “These are the realities of a megacity. Our challenge is to grow sustainably while ensuring a good quality of life,” he said.
To address these issues, he mentioned MMRDA’s key projects including the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (Atal Setu), the 337-kilometre Mumbai Metro network, multimodal corridors, and the Ring Road Master Plan. “Our goal is to ensure that anyone in the MMR can reach anywhere within 59 minutes,” he said.
Deshpande also highlighted climate-resilient initiatives such as the Mithi River rejuvenation, the Surya Water Project, and the promotion of transit-oriented development (TOD) and green mobility. “We can learn from each other’s strengths-Mumbai’s scale and Kashmir’s sustainability. Collaboration is the way forward,” he said.
He encouraged continued interaction between the regions, saying, “Only by continuing conversations and sharing expertise can we find solutions to our problems. This has to be a continuous process, and only then can it be fruitful.”
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