Japan bank to help with Mumbai's devt plan

The Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) will not only provide finance for the Mumbai's infrastructure project but will also help the state fine tune its regional development plan for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

The planning authority for MMR, the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), is presently finalising the plans for MMR which has spread over 4,325 sq km and stretches from Dhanu to Khopoli to Ambernath. And it has appointed the Canadian consulting firm, Lea Associates, to prepare the plan.

The plan will try to identify the future growth areas in the MMR and try to figure out what kind of infrastructure these growth areas will require. Once the plan is prepared,

JBIC with its huge pool of experts, from urban economists to urban transport planners, will help fine tune our plan, said a senior state government official.

They will pinpoint the lacunae in our plan, advice us on overcoming them and if we have ignored certain aspects in the planning process they will help us identify them and suggest strategies to incorporate the factors in the plan, he said.

The reason we are asking JBIC to help us is that apart from the experience of financing a wide range of urban infrastructure projects, the Tokyo region is similar in many aspects to Mumbai.

It is one of the most congested urban agglomerations with problems of traffic congestion, water supply and sanitation of the same magnitude, he elaborated.

So during this process of fine-tuning of our plan for MMR, they will pick up some projects for financing, he said.