Mumbai, Oct 9 (IANS) Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said that clear vision, fast decision-making process, and focus on implementation are three important pillars of Maharashtra’s development.

He was speaking at the “Global Fintech Fest 2025” conference here.

Fadnavis said that various projects like the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link were pending for decades, but the decision-making process was accelerated through the ‘Infrastructure War Room’.

He claimed that earlier, the first phase of the Mumbai Metro took six years for planning alone. However, the government reached the tender stage for the 372 km metro network in just 11 months.

“Our goal is to make Maharashtra a trillion-dollar economy by 2030. The aim is to make the Mumbai Metropolitan Region a 1.5 trillion dollar economy through the MMR Growth Hub Initiative,” said the Chief Minister.

He further stated that a ‘Third Mumbai’ will be built in the Navi Mumbai area, and in it, Edu City, Innovation City, Sports City and ‘GCC City will also be built.

“Edu City will have campuses of 10 to 12 foreign universities, and 1 lakh students will get the opportunity to study. These universities will be world-class institutions. This will lead to the development of a new city and a new economy,” he claimed.

Fadnavis said that world-class research and technology-based industries will be encouraged in the Innovation City, adding that Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran has taken the initiative to prepare the blueprint for this project.

“India’s largest port project is being built at Vadhavan in the northern part of Mumbai. This port with a 20-meter deep draft will be counted among the top ten ports in the world,” he said.

He also claimed that Mumbai’s third offshore airport and a bullet train station are also proposed.

“These projects will make Mumbai emerge as a new financial hub,” claimed the Chief Minister.

Regarding the use of technology, he said that artificial intelligence is transforming all sectors of the state, adding that the state government has allocated Rs 500 crore for the agriculture sector.

“‘AI Mission’ has been undertaken and AI chatbots have been developed for farmers in Marathi, Hindi and English. A new way of sustainable agriculture is being explored by using technology to address the impacts of climate change on agriculture,” he also claimed.

The Chief Minister also appealed to new industries, researchers and startup companies to cooperate and participate with the Maharashtra government.

–IANS

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