The population of the region, now around 20 million, is projected to touch 34 million by 2031. The concept plan would help set a strategy for an integrated and balanced development.

“The objective is to have some image of how the cities should look like after four decades and the efforts to achieve this goal. It will look at holistic development plans in housing, transportation, roads, economy, finance, etc,” UPS Madan, MTSU project director, told Newsline.

Ratnakar Gaikwad, Metropolitan Commissioner, said, “This is a plan that would help the authorities redevelop the cities in the region with balanced opportunities.” Apart from transport and infrastructure growth, the plan would formulate ways to help make life easier and create “hassle-free” business opportunities across the region to decentralise as many activities as possible from Mumbai.

The implementation of the plan would require over Rs 75,000 crore, according to estimates.

This is not the first time the state government is appointing consultants to chalk out mega-plans for overall development. It had earlier chalked out a transportation plan for the region that was to be implemented in three-phases till 2031, but the implementation of the Comprehensive Transport Study has been slow.

On September 1, 2008, the government had organised a discussion on a concept plan that would see Mumbai develop on the lines of Singapore after 1972. A senior bureaucrat said that Singapore too was “saturated” but it changed its approach and transformed. Dr Thai Ker Liu, director of Singapore’s RSP, had said that “credibility of political leadership is very crucial to successful implementation of a concept plan,” a statement noted in the minutes of the meeting.

Madan said the consultancy would be awarded by October-end and the report is expected to be to in after a year.