Dinesh Kamath's news item 'Teri comes up with an environmental assessment programme' that was published in Newsband

Teri comes up with an environmental assessment programme

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: The Energy and Resource Institute (Teri) has launched an environmental assessment programme for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region – including Navi Mumbai.

The assessment, titled 'Environmental Status Report of Mumbai Metropolitan Region', will provide information on the region's vital resources — air, water, land use and its changing patterns, and biodiversity — and will be used as guides for Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority's (MMRDA's) infrastructure development plan.

This assessment will help frame policies to cope with the current gaps in data available about the quality of various natural resources.

This kind of a report is essential to understand the city's performance and will help in the sustainable development of the city in the coming years.

In Navi Mumbai, which is second to Mumbai in terms of spread, the percentage of available land allocated to infrastructure has increased from 50.79 per cent in 2002-03 to 60.79 per cent in 2012-13. All the space that is available is given to builders, and when some infrastructure is to be built, then the government agencies look at developing on the open space.