Satellite township comes up in Kopar khairane city !!!

NAVI MUMBAI: Marine engineer Ramesh Prasad and his wife Sunita, a young married couple, made a decision to live in Belapur. The fact that Prasad has to make the long daily commute to CST to reach his workplace in south Mumbai is not seen as a major drawback. “Navi MumbPROJECT.TIMlete city with malls, multiplexes, schools, colleges and hospitals,” said Prasad.

Spread over 344sq km of land, the 38-year-old city, which was dubbed the `satellite township’, is evolving into an independent entity. With a population of 1.8 million, it has its own municipal corporation. One major attraction is the green space-45% of the land has been reserved for `green zones’ and parks.

The spokesperson of the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited (Cidco), Mohan Ninawe, said: “The upcoming Greenfield Airport near Kharghar and Panvel, good connectivity, and the upcoming trans-harbour sea link have all contributed to this young city’s success.”

“Investors know the potential of the city. Even if the sales are slow, the city will attract revenue with so many projects lined up,” said real estate consultant, Mahesh Hemrajani. The success of the city is linked to the development of many new major projects like the international airport and the Trans-Harbour link.

Like Mumbai, the city has a north-south divide of sorts, with Vashi, Sanpada, Nerul and Belapur having more prestige than the still-developing Kharghar, Panvel and Kamothe districts.