The Mumbai Megaproject ... Worlds Largest Urban Development

[ashish_puntambekar]

Sirs,

On the link below is the concept presentation for The Mumbai Megaproject.

"The Mumbai Megaproject “ , is a large , do-able plan that unlocks US $ 308 Billion
( Rs 14 Lakh Crores ) of value in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region ( MMR ) and uses that
money to totally re-construct the city of Mumbai within a 9 – 11 year period starting in
2014 with the objective of preparing Mumbai to make a bid for hosting the2024 Olympic
Games.

http://www.nataraja.org.in/site_include ... r_2011.pdf

Slides 15, 16 and 17 in the attached presentation are important as they show how
the above mentioned funds will be made available in Mumbai.

The Presentation to launch this large project was made by me on the 24th of Sept' 2011
at the YB Chavan Hall at Nariman Point in Mumbai.Presentation Video is on the You Tube
Link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Su27eBYGjg


Unique Solution

The current debt of the State. of Maharashtra ( 2011 ) stands at Rs 2,09,000 Crores or
roughly US $ 46 Billion. Given this huge debt , the Govt of Maharashtra is in no position to
issue any more debt to finance large infrastructure projects or give financial guarantees.

Given this situation, The Mumbai Megaproject is a worthwhile project proposal / plan as
It needs just Rs 3000 Crores ( $ 0.6 Bn ) as a one time grant to startup a huge economic
Engine that will generate an Urban Equity Withdrawal Surplus of Rs 14 Lakh Crores
Without any further cash needs from either the central government or the Govt of
Maharashtra. Essentially ... the Megaproject is totally self financing after the first cash
injection of Rs 3000 Crores from the JNNURM scheme of the Govt Of India.

The difference between all other previous plans to re-develop Mumbai and the
Megaproject is that , this time at all the issues ( i.e Governance, Financing, Engineering,
Project Logistics and control mechanisms) have been addressed simultaneously , for a
project of this size, to be able to transform the city within a realistic time frame
… in project mode.

No one has ever attempted this kind of Integrated Approach in the past ... especially in
the case of Mumbai.

The Mumbai Megaproject features a total of twenty four major ideas / concepts , of
which the attached presentation covers thirteen , including the World Bank concept of
Urban Equity Withdrawal.

Very briefly , the project :

1. Provides free housing, affordable education and healthcare for 9 Million slumdwellers
based on the dwelling concept. Two alternative designs are being considered for the
towers ( 45 Floors and 7 Floors ), with the 7 Floor towers being 30 % chaper in terms
of Capex, but will leave less open space in Mumbai.

2. Provides better & faster Transport : 210 Km of Underground Subway … 60 %
Reduction in Network Load

3. Repays , the entire US $ 46 Billion debt of Maharashtra State as a single bullet
payment to deliver a debt free state by 2014

4. Transforms Mumbai into a large International Financial Centre : Creates two
new financial centres and & Other Amenities … Universities etc

5. Invests US $ 40 Billion in Rural Education and another US $ 50 Billion in Rural health
( Total $ 90 Bn ) ... to implement President Kalam's PURA Model...thereby preventing
Rural Migration to Indian cities.In addition the project will finance an additional30,000
check dams in Marathwada and Vidharbha to raise water tables and will build a huge
Ring Corridor in Maharashtra ( Mumbai - Nashik - Nagpur- Gadchiroli - Nanded - Pune
Mumbai )

6. Applies principles of Intelligent Urbanism to create large open spaces,
recreation facilities and culture facilities in Mumbai that will rival the worlds leading
cities.(Investment will be of the order of US $ 4.5 Billion in Parks and US $ 600 Million
in art and Culture Facilities )

7. Invests US $ 1.5 Billion on the creation of Maritime Security Infrastructure ( Launch
Of 3 Advanced Intelligence satllites, 2 State of the Art Control Rooms for the Indian
Navy / Mumbai Police for operation of the Satellite Systems and Response
Mechanisms & 30 High Speed Launches /Speed boats along with support facilities.

The Megaproject will also finance a New US $ 4 Billion base for the Indian Navy
Approx. 100 Km , south of Mumbai. This new naval base will take over some of the
functions of the Current Naval Facilities in South Mumbai, while at the same time
keeping the Naval HQ and all other facilities in Mumbai . ( i.e. No Shifting )


8. Finally … the project will catalyze a tripling of the city’s GDP by 2018 and … by
2024, Mumbai’s GDP will exceed Singapore’s current GDP @ $ 310.69 Billion

The presentation to launch the Mumbai Megaproject was made by me at the YBChavan
Centre in Mumbai on the 24th of Sept. The promoter of the event was FICCI - FLO
( The FICCI Ladies Organization ) and it was supported by Deutsche Bank. The
presentation which was very well received was followed by a Panel discussion
moderated by Ms. Meera Sanyal ( Head of the Royal Bank Of Scotland ). On the
panel were Mr.Niranjan Hiranandani,Mr. Bittu Sahgal, Ms.Tasneem Mehta, Mr. Pranab
Datta ( Knight Frank ) & Ms. Ashwini Bhide (MMRDA). Deutsche Bank delivered the
Keynote address.

Today it appears impossible that a project of this magnitude can be executed by the
year 2024.It is with this in mind and to give the project a sense of urgency that hosting
the 2024 Olympic games has been adopted as a strategic project objective.

To achieve extremely fast paced construction schedules required by the plan, the entire
city will be divided into 72 contractor territories and then distributed among 12 large
contractors with a work front of US $30 Billion each,under a two stage International
competitive bidding process ( slides 27 & 28 ).

The challenge for a project designer, in conceptualizing projects of this magnitude in
India is " How do we transition a country of 1.2 billion people from a 400 million Middle
Class to one with a 600 - 700 Million Middle Class , without ruining the environment ?".
This is the fundamental design issue which the Mumbai Megaproject answers through
large scale use of environmental friendly technologies and most importantly by
curbing rural migration through massive investment in Education, healthcare and
employment initiatives in Rural communities across 28 states and 7 Union Territories.

The project also has a sophisticated and protocol based IT Platform and reporting
system ( The Context based Communications Platform ) which will keep a strict vigil
on Contract award procedures and execution. It is therefore very unlikely that
Scams of the kind we have seen recently in New Delhi will recur without generating an
instant system alert.

Please check out the presentation.The city of Mumbai is going to see some
big changes. The Megaproject is also the worlds largest Green project as its Urban
Equity Withdrawal component will be used to finance the growing of 2.5 Million
hectares of New Forests in Maharashtra besides 7000 Acres of Mangroves around
Mumbai city. The Project will also have a large CO2 Sequestration component where
some of the the city's waste will be incinerated and the CO2 will be pumped offshore
to the ONGC Oil Fields to enhance oil production at Bombay High. The use of low energy
construction materials will be its other major feature.

We have a facebook page to promote the Mumbai Megaproject. Please Join this effort.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/MumbaiMegaproject


Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,


Ashish Puntambekar
Project Designer
The Mumbai Megaproject
& The Indian Education Megaproject ... High quality Education to 126 Million Children Totally Free of cost
http://www.nataraja.org.in/masseducationproject.htm

Contact Details : ashish.puntambekar@gmail.com, Ph : 91 - 9867612368

[Theo_Fidel]

IB4TL!

[RamaY]

^ it is a grandiose plan.

We should encourage such out-of-the-box thinking instead of foreign induced anti-nuclear nonsense.

[Jarita]

Should we merge this thread with the urban planning thread?

[Suraj]

The forum in general is not a platform to advertise private projects since it is a privately owned platform and not meant to serve as a free advertising place.

The project is about a decade old. Nothing has happened in the meantime despite the seemingly low cost of entry. Ten years on, the details of the project aren’t terribly important. What is really worthwhile to know is, with complete honesty, why did it fail ? I’m sure there’s not just one single reason. It could be all manner of reasons - scared away everyone by maki)g the plan too grand with very little prior established competence, lack of capital, lack of political influence, land and right of way... in general a completely honest appraisal. So far since the proposal it makes little sense to just point fingers at some single entity; it is like saying the operation was successful but the patient died.

Successful projects are the result of execution, not vision. Failed projects need not be w failure if they teach the promoters valuable lessons on what they did wrong and give them the ability and experience to succeed the second time around. If this project can be described in terms of the lessons its failure taught its promoters, that makes useful material for the urban development thread. The project itself, not so much.