5 Ways In Which MTHL Will Help Mumbai Rise

World Bank researchers have repeatedly pointed out that many major island cities of the world will not have flourished without bridges like the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL). This link will connect the Island City with Navi Mumbai. On a city built on an island, land masses are dispersed, and this is a liability. So, such cities often build bridges to turn this liability into an asset.

Recently, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) approved a budget of Rs 17,700 crore for construction of the MTHL. The link's construction is expected to begin this year and be completed in 2019. PropGuide looks at how this will change the structure of Mumbai.

• MTHL will lower the commute time from the Island City to Navi Mumbai from 41 minutes to 26 minutes. It will reduce the distance by about 15 km. Besides, it will make the commute direct, something which has lacked in Mumbai for long. Also, the commute is likely to become faster, efficient and cheaper. This, in turn, will allow more people to live in Navi Mumbai and work elsewhere, and vice versa.

• Land prices in Navi Mumbai have witnessed a rise in the recent past because of the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport. The construction of MTHL is likely to have a similar -- in fact, a stronger -- impact on housing prices in this area. This is because the link will accelerate economic development in Navi Mumbai which was stagnant for long despite the huge potential of this region to develop itself.

• Road congestion will decline, thus bringing down the operating cost of vehicles. As roads are valuable real estate in Mumbai; the benefits are great when this scarce resource is used more prudently. However, the effect is less certain because there will be real estate development in areas around MTHL. This will also lead to more houses being built in this area, leading to greater traffic through this route. However, all of this depends on how land use is being planned along MTHL, especially the division between residential and commercial properties.

• There will be a greater dispersal of population from other areas of Mumbai to Navi Mumbai. Such dispersal, though, was looked down upon by many economists for long, as this raises the commute time in the city.  The point that many such critics missed was that infrastructure was lacking in a land-scarce city. Economic growth is unlikely to happen without connecting the mainland to the docks.

• The influence of the link is expected to be on an area that is over 100 sq km, affecting a large segment of the population in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. MTHL will allow both vertical and horizontal growth Mumbai This is important in a city where currently only vertical growth is possible, unless the government sells its land holdings.