Mumbai: Mumbai, which offers significant investment opportunities, is the ‘only city in the country with a potential worth 2 trillion dollars,’ and Maharashtra should focus on fields like Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology, and Quantum Computing, according to NITI Aayog’s CEO B. V. R. Subrahmanyam.
The NITI Aayog CEO, who met the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at his residence, noted that these sectors presented both opportunities and capacity for growth in the state.
Describing Maharashtra’s work in the energy sector as the best in the country and as a model for other states, he emphasized that the state’s development plan is ready and needs to be accelerated, with regular reviews of ongoing projects through a +war room+.
Chief Minister Fadnavis said efforts at further accelerating the pace of development in Maharashtra — including several major projects and development works — are underway in the state, even as new investments continued to flow in.
The Central Budget witnessed Maharashtra being allocated Rs 11,000 crore for projects like Mumbai Metro, Pune Metro, MUTP and MMR, Fadnavis said while stating that Maharashtra will utilize these opportunities effectively while also playing a leading role in India’s journey towards development.
Meanwhile, in Beed district, the Chief Minister highlighted the ‘Jalyukt Shivar’ scheme that was initiated in 2014-15 and has now made several villages water-rich with increasing groundwater levels.
However, to make drought-prone Marathwada region permanently drought-free, it is essential to divert westward-flowing rivers’ water into the Godavari basin, he said, adding that the government planned to divert 53 TMC of water — which otherwise flows into the sea — into the Godavari basin and Jayakwadi Dam Marathwada through the river-linking project, thus ensuring future generations being free from drought.
In 2022, the Maharashtra Government pursued four major river-linking projects in Maharashtra, which would make Vidarbha, Marathwada, and North Maharashtra drought-free, Fadnavis said while stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured approval for these projects.
Emphasizing river-linking projects as essential to totally develop agriculture in this region, Fadnavis said the +Ashti Lift Irrigation Scheme+ became the first such project with Rs 11,000 crores being allocated to it for supplying substantial water to Ashti taluka in Dharashiv and Beed districts.
Noting that Lift irrigation projects are expensive and a financial burden on farmers, he said the government has decided to power all lift irrigation projects in the state — including the Ashti Lift Irrigation Scheme — with solar energy.
Meanwhile, with the launch of the Chief Minister’s Solar Energy Transmission Scheme, Maharashtra is the first state in the country to establish a separate electricity distribution company for farmers.
Feeder networks with a capacity of 16,000 megawatts are being set up for completion by December 2026 or March 2027 to enable cheaper 12-hour daytime electricity for farmers, Fadnavis said.
With roads being crucial for economic growth and faster transportation, the Maharashtra State Infrastructure Development Corporation (MSIDC) has launched a Rs 37,000 crores, three-year-timeline project to concrete over 6,000 kilometres of roads including state highways and high-traffic rural roads across 34 districts in the state, according to Brijesh Dixit, MD, MSIDC.
