Navi Mumbai will top the country in Ease of Living Index ranking soon – says a confident Bhupendra Shah.

Bhumiraj Group CMD explains that mega projects coming up in the new city will boost economic activity.
 
Navi Mumbai has been ranked 6th in the country and 2nd in Maharashtra, in the Ease of Living Index 2020 rankings of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs released on March 4. Navi Mumbai has slipped 4 places in the country from the last ranking. Experts however believe it is not a matter of worry as the city is the youngest of the lot with a very bright near future.
 
Bangalore has topped the list amongst the cities with over a million pollution with Pune being second. 111 cities participated in the assessment exercise that was conducted in year 2020.
 
It covered 78 indicators across 15 evaluation criteria, viz. governance, identity and culture, education, health, safety and security, economy, affordable housing, land use planning, public open spaces, transportation and mobility, assured water supply, waste-water management, solid waste management, power, and quality of the environment.
 
Of the parameters used to rank the cities, Navi Mumbai does extremely well in high in quality of life, city resilience and citizen perception parameters. It scores very low in economy ability, level of economic development, economic opportunities and green building parameters.

 
The highs are attributed by experts from cross section of society to excellent SWM projects, water supply etc. The low score in economic development is being attributed to the city being much younger than the other cities with the IT hubs now coming up here along with mega-projects that will take the city to the top in the next 10 years.
 
Commenting on the ranking, Bhupendra Shah, chairman and managing director of Bhumiraj Group and also Chairman Trustee Board, Builders Association of Navi Mumbai, stated, “It is a matter of pride that Navi Mumbai has been ranked 6th in the Ease of Living Index. I am sure we will top the rankings in the next 5 years.”
 
He explained, “The cities like Bangalore, Pune, Surat etc have been in existence for hundreds of years while Navi Mumbai came into existence just 30 years back when APMC came to the region. In fact getting this rank in such a short time is unprecedented.”
 
Informed Bhupendra Shah, who is also the Founder Trustee of Builders Association of Navi Mumbai (BANM), “Several mega projects worth over Rs.1,40,000 cr are coming up in the 55 sqkm region which will provide over 10 lakh jobs in the next few years. This was confirmed by former CIDCO vice chairman and managing director Bhushan Gagrani. This is the biggest such investment in such a small area anywhere in the country.”
 
According to Shah, “Airport will lead to several related industries coming up, apart from JNPT being expanded with new ports, almost 22 jetties are being constructed, Reliance SEZ will generate lakhs of jobs, the IT companies are coming up big in MIDC area, MTHL too is on the anvil. There is the freight corridor and other railway corridors coming up.”
 
Bhupendra Shah concluded, “There are several parameters in which the city has done well should have in fact been higher. Maybe there were discrepancies in the survey. The 6th rank does not reflect the true status in the city nor do the economic and job opportunity parameters. We are anyway set for the top rank soon and will of course get the top rank in Swachch Survkeshan that will be announced this year.”