Which global city uses prime real estate nearly the size of New York’s Central Park simply to dump trash on?
Mumbai.
The land-starved peninsula currently discards 11,000 metric tons of refuse every day in three dump yards that together occupy more than 740 acres. At going market rates, that land would be worth as much as $4.4 billion if it were sold and used for housing. Meanwhile, 6.5 million people, or half of Mumbai’s population, live in slums without basic sanitation and safe drinking water.
Mumbai’s landfills underscore the need to put scarce resources to optimal use if Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to succeed in his goal of building everyone a home by 2022. He aims to create 100 smart cities while tidying up the country under his Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, which translates as Clean India Mission.