Thane's real estate boom puts pressure on roads despite 55,000-crore infrastructure push

Thane’s rapid real estate expansion has brought a wave of high-rise development, but residents continue to face traffic congestion and infrastructure concerns even as the city undergoes a major infrastructure push.

Projects worth an estimated ₹55,000 crore are either being developed or planned across Thane, including metro corridors, flyovers, elevated roads and coastal road connections, according to NDTV Profit. The investment is intended to improve connectivity and accommodate the city’s growth, but residents and local political leaders have raised concerns about congestion during construction and whether civic infrastructure is keeping pace with development.

Thane’s transformation has been particularly visible in areas that once consisted of gaothans, or traditional village settlements, and semi-rural stretches. NDTV Profit, citing Times of India reporting, said the city’s expansion accelerated after the upgrading of Ghodbunder Road in the early 2000s and a policy that allowed industrial land to be converted for residential development.

The result has been a rapid spread of high-rise housing across parts of the city.

Thane’s location has helped drive that expansion. Its connectivity with Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Bhiwandi has made it an important residential market for buyers looking for alternatives to Mumbai, according to the report.

But the growth has also increased pressure on roads and civic services.

BJP MLA Sanjay Kelkar told the Times of India, as cited by NDTV Profit, that civic infrastructure had not kept pace with what he described as a nearly five-fold increase in Thane’s population. He also pointed to areas along Ghodbunder Road where residents continue to rely on tanker water despite the development of affluent residential neighbourhoods.

Traffic has become an especially visible problem. Multiple infrastructure projects are being executed at the same time, creating construction-related disruptions on already busy roads.

NCP-SP Thane president Manoj Pradhan criticised the simultaneous execution of several projects, arguing that works intended to ease congestion were themselves contributing to traffic pressure during the construction phase, according to NDTV Profit.

The infrastructure programme is nevertheless intended to address some of these longstanding problems. Metro corridors, flyovers, elevated roads and coastal road links form part of the broader investment estimated at ₹55,000 crore.

The question is whether the infrastructure will arrive quickly enough — and in an integrated enough manner — to match the pace of real estate development.

The issue has also drawn criticism from urban planners and the judiciary. Former Supreme Court judge Justice Abhay Oka has questioned whether residents were adequately consulted on major infrastructure projects, while urban planner Sulakshana Mahajan has argued that Thane needs a broader mobility strategy rather than relying primarily on road expansion, according to NDTV Profit.

For residents, the tension is straightforward: new infrastructure promises better connectivity in the future, but construction is creating disruption today.

Thane’s real estate growth has fundamentally changed the city. Its next challenge is ensuring that roads, public transport, water supply and other civic services grow alongside the buildings rather than after them.

Source

https://www.ndtvprofit.com/india/thane-real-estate-boom-residents-on-traffic-congestion-and-shrinking-roads-despite-infra-push-11888149