Mumbai has served its time as a business capital, time to build NAINA city, says Maharashtra CM Fadnavis

India's financial capital, Mumbai, has served its time as a business hub, and Maharashtra is now embarking on building a new 'magnet' city for commerce, state's Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on February 28, showcasing the upcoming Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (NAINA), which is being planned as a thematic city in the neighbouring Raigad district.

“Mumbai has lived its time as a business capital, which it will remain always, but now we have to create a new business magnet. And this new business magnet will be the new urban agglomeration in and around the new airport,” CM Fadnavis said at the second edition of Mumbai Tech Week.

Fadnavis said NAINA would be three times bigger than Mumbai, and will aim to accommodate the needs of businesses in this city. From Mumbai’s business district of Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), NAINA will be a 25-minute drive away.

“So, I think we are heading towards creating new cities..” Fadnavis added.

The Chief Minister also mentioned about Maharashtra’s ambitious river-linking project. “…we are actually creating a 560 kilometer of new river, and that will actually pass through the water-stressed area of Vidarbha, and will make Vidarbha totally drought-free,” he said.

The Chief Minister admitted that Mumbai lost the information technology (IT) revolution to other states due to inefficiency between 2000 and 2014, but the city is catching up fast. “We lost the IT revolution to Bangalore and Hyderabad because of our inefficient working. But after 2014, we started working on that,” Fadnavis said.

"Mumbai is becoming affordable. Most of the tech industries are coming to Mumbai because it has an airport. It has ease of living, we are creating a thematic city… it is also called Data Centre capital,” Fadnavis said, adding that the state government will focus more on technology during this term.

Fadnavis also mentioned about the proposed deep seaport at Vadhvan, in the Palghar district, which he said is going to change Mumbai and even India’s economy. “The Vadhvan port is three times bigger than JNPT… this one project will make us a maritime power,” he said.

The Chief Minister informed that the state’s first M-Hub, or Maha-Hub, is nearing completion, which will serve as an incubator to foster more start-ups.

“In Navi Mumbai, we aim to develop ample, affordable spaces that can compete with those in other cities,” the Chief Minister said.