In a rare interview to the media, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis tells The Hindu of his ambition to liberate millions of Mumbaikars from the nightmarish traffic jams that clog the city.

The two-hour commute from the northern end to the southern tip of Maximum City is set to come down to 30 minutes with the ambitious >35-km coastal road project that is being spearheaded by the >first-ever BJP government in the State, led by Devendra Fadnavis.

Mr. Fadnavis, in an interview with The Hindu, said that liberating millions of Mumbaikars from the nightmare of traffic jams and long hours of time spent on the road is a top priority of his government.

Mr. Fadnavis, a 44-year-old merit holder in law from Nagpur University, who also studied business and project management in Berlin, has been handpicked by the BJP top-brass, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the party aims to consolidate its base in the State.

A relaxed Mr. Fadnavis, who met with The Hindu at his office in Mumbai, said: “Over 60 per cent of Mumbai traffic plies on the Western Express Highway, and leads to congestion. The coastal road will be integrated with the Bandra Worli Sea Link. We also plan to implement a BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit System) so that it can become a mass transportation project. Mumbaikars will be able to complete this commute within 25-30 minutes.”

Known for his dynamism, the Chief Minister said that he has been diligently pursuing the clearances with the Centre. During his recent visit to New Delhi last week, the Environment and Forests Minister Prakash Javadekar assured him of speedy clearances for the project, Mr. Fadnavis said.

Mr. Fadnavis believes that the work on the project, estimated to cost Rs. 10,000 crore, could commence in a few months time.

An artistic impression of the proposed Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL).

While the coastal road will run through the western coast of Mumbai, Mr. Fadnavis also wants to swiftly complete the much-delayed Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL). It is a road project linking the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Navi Mumbai to Mumbai across the eastern coast. “After I became the Chief Minister, we have also managed to get all the clearances for the Navi Mumbai International Airport, and we intend to make it operational by 2019,” he said.

Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had managed to get swift >environmental clearances in 2010 soon after he took over, but the new airport project could not take off over land acquisition issues with project-affected farmers demanding a steeper price under the new provisions brought on by the UPA government.

Mr. Fadnavis’ grand vision for the transformation of Mumbai also includes building new smart and self-sufficient cities in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) that comprises of the satellite suburbs of Thane and Navi Mumbai, to lighten the burden on the infrastructure of the financial capital.

“We have identified a new city near the Navi Mumbai airport with an area larger than Mumbai. The 600 sq. km satellite city will be developed by City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) — a Navi Mumbai housing utility — and will have the capacity for a population of about 20 lakh people. Such new cities, which will have all the ingredients of a smart city, will help stem the influx into Mumbai and its infrastructure,” said Mr. Fadnavis.

The new city would be integrated with a large >logistics hub in Bhiwandi, a power loom town on Mumbai’s fringe known for its communal sensitivity, and a string of warehouses used by manufacturers to store their products and distribute them.

“Bhiwandi presently has over 4,000 illegal godowns and warehouses where the industry stores its logistics. The godowns would be regularised to boost the industry. All logistics come into Mumbai, and then gets distributed from here. The new city and the logistics park would cover an area of 2,200 acres,” said Mr. Fadnavis.

(Read the exclusive interview in The Hindu’s print edition.)