Navi Mumbai: 32 Amenity Plots Repurposed for Residential, Commercial Use in Revised Development Plan

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) recently submitted its modified draft Development Plan (DP) for 2018-38 to the state government for final approval. According to this plan, at least 32 plots earmarked for amenities in Navi Mumbai have already been developed for both residential and commercial purposes.

Somnath Kekan, Assistant Director of Two Planning of NMMC informed that the civic body had no options but to delete reservations from these plots. The civic body removed reservation from a total 88 plots in the final draft DP submitted to the state government.

In the draft development of Navi Mumbai, the civic body had proposed a reservation on 625 plots for various civic amenities. However, CIDCO raised objections and ultimately approached the Urban Development Department of the state government.

Kekan informed that over the period, CIDCO auctioned these plots for purposes other than civic amenities. “We received a notice from the state government on February 5, 2024 to remove reservations in the final draft DP and accordingly we removed them reservations,” said Kekan. Since developers have already paid for these plots and projects were already executed, it would be a difficult situation to get back these plots.

“CIDCO is also a government agency and it also works for the welfare of common citizens. That’s why reservations were removed,” said Kekan. In the final draft DP, the civic body proposed reservations on 537 plots.

Out of the total 88 plots from which reservations were removed, 32 plots have already been developed, and the remaining plots were already handed over to NMMC. "Of the remaining 56 plots where reservations were removed, many have already been transferred to NMMC," stated Kekan. He further added that several of these plots are still awaiting development for civic amenities.

As per the data presented in the draft DP, by the end of 2018, the civic body received a total of 619 plots from CIDCO while it demanded a total of 1543 plots for civic amenities. Of the total 619 plots received by NMMC, 411 plots have been developed and the remaining 208 plots have not yet been developed.