‘Mumbai Will Remain Mumbai, Not a Copy of Shanghai or Singapore': Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said that Mumbai does not need to become like Singapore or Shanghai, instead, other cities should aspire to be like Mumbai.

Fadnavis made the remarks while speaking at the CNN-News18 Townhall, Mumbai edition.

“Mumbai will remain Mumbai, why should we try to make it like Shanghai or Singapore? Mumbai has its own character, and I believe that character is even better than that of Shanghai or Singapore," Fadnavis said in response to a question on whether he envisions Mumbai becoming like Shanghai or Singapore.

Fadnavis further stated that while Mumbai has some gaps in infrastructure and housing, efforts to address them began in 2014 and the ongoing transformation is visible now.

“There are only a few infrastructure gaps in Mumbai, and some gaps in housing. We need to bridge those and we began that work in 2014. Now, you can already see the transformation, and in the next five years, you’ll see even more," the Chief Minister said.

“Why should we try to become like Shanghai or Singapore? People should focus on building a city like Mumbai, and we should prepare the city accordingly," he added.

Fadnavis further said that Mumbai has seen significant transformation in recent years, with the Dharavi housing project being a key example of this change.

“Dharavi is a transformational project through which we will provide proper, permanent housing with all necessary facilities to 10 lakh people," he said.

Speaking about infrastructure development, the Chief Minister said, “We are developing ‘Third Mumbai’—which will come up between the Atal Setu and the Navi Mumbai airport. This new Mumbai is a futuristic city. It includes an ‘Edu City’ where seven top-ranked global universities have already come in, and five more are on the way. Just today, I finalised talks with another leading university."

He also said that Mumbai will have a bullet train within the next two to three years.

Criticising previous governments, Fadnavis claimed that Mumbai had failed to develop over the past 25 years due to what he described as chronic capitalism by those in power at the time.