If you have been shown a map with "Mumbai 3.0" printed across it and a plot marked inside the shading, this page is the one to read before you go further. The term is doing a lot of work in the market at the moment and almost none of it is legal work. Here is what the government has actually notified, what it is called, and where Khopoli sits in relation to it.
Is "Mumbai 3.0" an official name?
No. "Mumbai 3.0" is a market and media coinage. No government notification, plan or authority uses it as the designation of an area, and its first use cannot be traced to a single origin.
The related term "Third Mumbai" is used informally by ministers and in the press, which is why it sounds official. It is not a statutory designation either. Both terms have been repeated so widely, including in coverage of the MMRDA budget and in ministerial statements, that they have acquired the texture of official language without any of the substance.
That is not a claim that nothing is happening. Something substantial is happening. It simply has a different name.
What the official name is
The statutory name is K.S.C. (Karnala-Sai-Chirner) New Town.
Its published parameters are precise:
- Area: 323.44 sq km.
- 124 villages, in the Uran, Panvel and Pen tehsils of Raigad district.
- MMRDA was designated the New Town Development Authority for it on 15 October 2024.
- It is still in the planning phase. There is no sanctioned development plan and no construction.
MMRDA's own material uses "K.S.C. New Town". It does not use "Third Mumbai" or "Mumbai 3.0". When a page tells you a plot is "in Mumbai 3.0", ask which of the 124 villages it is in. That question has a checkable answer; the label does not.
What NAINA is, and how it differs
NAINA, the Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area, is the predecessor statutory term. It was notified on 10 January 2013, covers about 170 villages across the Pen, Panvel and Uran talukas, and has CIDCO as the Special Planning Authority.
NAINA and K.S.C. New Town are not the same thing, they are not administered by the same body, and one did not simply become the other. NAINA's town planning schemes are at tender stage. The two overlap geographically in the same three talukas but they are distinct instruments with distinct authorities.
The official names, and what each covers
| Name | Status | Area covered | Authority | Since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| K.S.C. (Karnala-Sai-Chirner) New Town | Statutory. New Town under MMRDA | 323.44 sq km, 124 villages in Uran, Panvel and Pen tehsils, Raigad | MMRDA, as New Town Development Authority | 15 October 2024 |
| NAINA (Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area) | Statutory. Special Planning Authority area | About 170 villages in Pen, Panvel and Uran talukas | CIDCO, as Special Planning Authority | Notified 10 January 2013 |
| MMR Extended Notified Area | Statutory. Special Planning Authority area | About 1,681 sq km, 223 villages in Alibag, Pen, Panvel and Khalapur talukas | MMRDA as SPA; development-permission powers delegated to the District Collectors from 3 January 2025 | Declared 9 July 2024 |
| Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) | Statutory planning region | Mumbai city and suburbs plus the Palghar, Raigad and Thane districts | MMRDA, under the MMR Regional Plan 2016-36 | Boundary extended 9 September 2019 to add Khalapur, Pen and Alibag talukas |
| "Third Mumbai" | Informal | Used loosely of the K.S.C. New Town area and its surroundings | None | Not applicable |
| "Mumbai 3.0" | Market and media coinage | Undefined | None | Not applicable |
Is Khopoli part of Third Mumbai?
No. Khopoli is not among the 124 villages of K.S.C. New Town. Neither is Karjat, and neither is Alibaug.
This matters for a practical reason rather than a semantic one. The 124 villages are the area for which MMRDA holds New Town Development Authority powers. Being inside that list determines which body plans your land, which planning instrument applies to it, and what happens to it when a development plan is eventually sanctioned. Being outside it means a different authority and a different instrument. A marketing map cannot move a village into the list.
Ask which of the 124 villages the survey number is in. If the answer is a locality name rather than a village name, the plot is not in K.S.C. New Town.
What Khopoli actually is
Khopoli's real position is specific and, on its own terms, a strong one. It just needs to be stated accurately.
- It is in Khalapur taluka, Raigad district. Khopoli is a municipal council of about 30 sq km with a population of 108,648 at the 2011 Census.
- It is inside the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The MMR boundary was extended on 9 September 2019 to include the Khalapur, Pen and Alibag talukas of Raigad.
- The surrounding Khalapur villages are inside the MMR Extended Notified Area, declared on 9 July 2024, covering about 1,681 sq km and 223 villages across the Alibag, Pen, Panvel and Khalapur talukas, with MMRDA as Special Planning Authority and development-permission powers delegated to the District Collectors, including Raigad, from 3 January 2025. Preparation of a Development Plan for that area was declared on 18 September 2025.
- Within Khopoli's own municipal limits, Khopoli Municipal Council is the planning authority. Outside them, the ENA arrangement above applies. This has to be checked survey number by survey number.
- It sits on NH-4 and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, about 80 km from Mumbai and about 80 km from Pune, with Khopoli railway station on Central Railway's Kalyan-Khopoli branch.
- The Mumbai-Pune Expressway Missing Link diverges at the Khopoli exit. That 13.3 km section opened to motorists on 2 May 2026.
So Khopoli is in Raigad, inside MMR, inside a notified planning area with MMRDA as SPA, on the corridor, and outside K.S.C. New Town. All five of those are true at once, and only the last one is ever left out.
Why the distinction is worth insisting on
Three reasons, none of them pedantic.
- Planning consequences are attached to the notified areas, not to the nicknames. Zone, permissible use, reservation and the identity of the permitting authority all flow from which statutory area a survey number falls in.
- A claim you cannot check is a claim that can be withdrawn. "In Mumbai 3.0" has no test. "In village X, Uran tehsil, within the 124" does.
- Overclaiming is how corridors get discredited. The measurable things happening here are substantial enough to describe accurately. Navi Mumbai International Airport began commercial domestic operations on 25 December 2025. The Atal Setu opened on 13 January 2024 per MMRDA. JNPA handled 8.17 million TEU in FY 2025-26. MMRDA's FY 2026-27 budget of ₹48,072.57 crore includes ₹4,000 crore reported as being for Mumbai 3.0 and K.S.C. New Town. None of that needs a label to help it.
What to ask before you accept a "Third Mumbai" claim
- Which village, and which tehsil. Then check whether that village is one of the 124 in K.S.C. New Town.
- Which planning authority issues development permission for that survey number, in writing. For land around Khopoli the answer may be the Raigad Collector, MMRDA or Khopoli Municipal Council.
- A zone certificate from that authority, showing the sanctioned zone and any reservation, rather than a map from a brochure.
- Whether the area has a sanctioned development plan. K.S.C. New Town does not, and the MMR Extended Notified Area's plan was only declared under preparation on 18 September 2025.
- A date on every claim. The notifications described here run from 2013 to 2025, and the position around Khopoli has changed more than once in that time.