Mumbai, March 6 (IANS) In the Maharashtra State Budget 2026-27, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday outlined a major shift in urban governance, projecting that 70 per cent of the state’s population will live in urban areas by 2047 and contribute nearly 80 per cent of Maharashtra’s GDP.

The state aims to expand the Metro network to 1,200 km and the expressway network to more than 6,000 km. Key projects in Mumbai include Metro Line 11 (Wadala to Gateway of India), a fully underground corridor estimated to cost Rs 23,487 crore.

The government has also proposed the development of a “Third Mumbai”, a 200 sq km urban zone connected to the Atal Setu, including areas such as Kushmanda and Sai-Chirner, along with the development of Vadhavan Port and Mumbai 4 in the adjoining region. The Vadhavan Port project is expected to create more than 12 lakh jobs.

In the housing sector, the government has proposed implementing a “No New Slum Framework” aimed at redeveloping 20 lakh slum tenements and creating 10 lakh affordable houses in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

To manage the expected urban expansion, the Chief Minister unveiled a series of governance reforms. He announced the creation of empowered regional development authorities, signalling a move away from centralised municipal control towards more than 10 regional development authorities. These will be modelled on institutions such as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) but with greater fiscal and administrative autonomy.

Beyond the major urban centres of Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, new authorities will be established for regions such as Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and the Solapur-Latur belt. The government proposes to develop these regions as “City Economic Regions” rather than merely administrative units.

The budget also promotes the creation of more than 20 autonomous industrial and mixed-use townships with simplified land-use regulations to accelerate housing and commercial development. The “Viksit Maharashtra” vision places technology at the centre of city management to improve ease of living.

Following a successful pilot in the energy sector, the state will implement AI-based “Digital Twins” for major cities. This system will allow real-time simulation and management of traffic, water supply and disaster response.

The government has also proposed integrating Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning into the Auto DCR (Development Control Regulations) application to enable automated and faster scrutiny of building plans and compliance checks.

The state has set a long-term target of building 6 to 7 million affordable housing units by 2047, with significant incentives for cluster redevelopment of old layouts. It has also proposed high-speed connectivity to link urban centres through a 6,000 km-plus expressway network and high-speed rail corridors, aiming to transform Maharashtra into a “seamless multimodal hub”.

–IANS

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