News: Fadnavis Targets Slum-Free Mumbai in 10 Years-04-09-2026
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday he is "very confident" that Mumbai can be made slum-free in the next 10 years. He was speaking at a conference of the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) Maharashtra in Mumbai.
The plan rests on redeveloping Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum settlement, and on a cluster-based approach to ageing areas. Fadnavis said the government has divided Mumbai into several clusters to push redevelopment of areas built decades ago and now constrained by old buildings, informal settlements and poor use of land. The strategy would use land more efficiently and open opportunities for the real estate industry, he said.
Redevelopment will not be limited to housing. Mixed-use projects on prime land are planned, with commercial spaces, museums, playgrounds and recreational areas, along with better transport infrastructure.
On Dharavi, he said a deadline had been set for 10,000 rehab houses and that he wants to bring the Prime Minister in early 2029 to hand them over.
Plans and reports have also been prepared to redevelop Mumbai’s old depots, which he said would create modern transport facilities and unlock land for mixed-use development.
Fadnavis said the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Pune Metropolitan Region and Nagpur would drive the state’s next phase of urbanisation, with opportunities in real estate, data centres, advanced manufacturing and frontier technologies. Maharashtra grew 8.8% in the first quarter against India’s 7.8%, he said. Property registrations in the state crossed 1.06 million in the first eight months of the year, yielding around Rs 9,365 crore in revenue.
Outlining Mumbai 3.0, he said new urban centres are coming up around major infrastructure projects, citing the proposed offshore airport near Virar, the Mumbai-Nagpur connectivity network, the bullet train corridor and a major new port. The port, to be significantly larger than Jawaharlal Nehru Port, could generate employment for around one million people in Palghar district alone, he said.
He urged developers to adopt newer construction technologies and artificial intelligence in approvals and construction to improve predictability and accountability.
Fadnavis said MMR’s economy will be $1.5 trillion by 2047 and that 60% of data centre capacity is in the region. Urbanisation is inevitable and must be managed, he said, adding that in 10 years MMR will be among the most populated and best planned regions of India.
