The Maharashtra government has drawn ambitious plans, totalling Rs 31,500 crore (Rs 315 billion), to refurbish Mumbai into an international city like Shanghai, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The Centre has offered to provide Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) for the various projects drawn for making the city another Shanghai, Deshmkh told PTI in an interview on the occasion of completion of 100 days of the Democratic Front government in Maharashtra.
The Rs 10,000-crore assistance promised by the Centre would be received in Rs 2,000-crore (Rs 20 billion) annual grant for five years, he said.
The projects planned to give the metropolis a facelift include the Mumbai-metro rail link, the trans-harbour project, the ring railway project and Wadala truck terminus project, removal of encroachments, beautification of the international airport at Mumbai, the Mumbai-Urban infrastructural project and the upgradation of King Edward Memorial Hospital, he said.
The state government has also urged the Centre to make provision for Mumbai in the Union Budget, Deshmukh said.
The main focus of these projects would be to showcase Mumbai and provide the city with modern infrastructure to match with international standards, Deshmukh said.
To a question what would the state do if the help from the Centre did not arrive, Deshmukh said, "We will go on but with Centre's help, the projects are expected to be expedited."
The chief minister said converting Mumbai into Shanghai was the dream of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and he would personally ensure that the funds came in from the Centre for this purpose.
"Mumbai gave the country one-third revenue by way of taxes and hence it becomes the duty of all the people to develop this city which has given so much to India all these years," he said.
