A group of city planners has criticised the rough draft for developing a section of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) around Thane
creek, drawn by an international firm of architects. They claim that the draft has failed to take into account the problems on the ground.
Architect Julian Jain of GMP International had pitched for changing the focus of development from the Mumbai city to the MMR. Among his recommendations were reclamation of land in and around the Thane creek. This, he said, would be easier than getting new land for development-an idea that was opposed by farmers. GMP, an international firm based in Hamburg, Germany, had earlier planned certain areas in Frankfurt and developed a new city called Lingang near Shanghai.
UPS Madan, head of the Mumbai Transformation Unit of the All India Institute of Local Self Government, opposed the reclamation plan. Madan, who holds the rank of a secretary in the state government, said reclamation was not allowed by the Centre and would lead to environmental problems as there were large clusters of mangroves in the area.
P K Das, a city architect said, “This is Google planning, they have missed the feedback from the ground.” The round table discussion was called by Bombay First, an NGO, and the Mumbai Transformation Unit to discuss ideas for solving urban problems.
Original article here.