Forget branding Mumbai, let’s fix infrastructure projects first

Finally, the state government realises it's important to find private bidders for the troubled Mumbai Trans Harbour Link and second metro rail line instead of branding the city

Forget branding Mumbai, let's fix infrastructure projects first

Finally, the state government realises it's important to find private bidders for the troubled Mumbai Trans Harbour Link and second metro rail line instead of branding the city

The let's-brand-Mumbai idea has been doing the rounds for over two years now, but skeptics have always

maintained that basic necessities like better, roads, electricity, etc, should be the priority. And the state government is finally listening.

UPS Madan, project director, Mumbai Transformation Support Unit (MTSU), confirmed that the Brand Mumbai endeavour is again on the backburner. "We are focusing on promoting infrastructure projects that failed to receive any response.

Branding Mumbai and giving it a slogan can be done gradually," he said. MTSU is a government-appointed body that plans major infrastructure projects in Mumbai.

The government had first wanted Mumbai to stand shoulder to shoulder with Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur. But the idea of giving Mumbai its own identity gained momentum after former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh met a UK-based branding agency, Acanchi, during his visit to Europe in September 2008.

So, in November last year, the state government, with the help of MTSU, carried out a branding exercise and invited citizens to come up with suggestions for slogans highlighting the positive elements of Mumbai.

The government was also supposed to create a separate e-mail ID for people to send in their suggestions. But the economic slowdown and the gradual apprehension among the private players to undertake projects dissuaded them from creating the ID.

An expert from the infrastructure sector said, "People are facing a power crisis coupled with bad roads and bumper-to-bumper traffic. Till we clear these hurdles, branding Mumbai would be ineffective."

Other famous slogans
Kerala: God's Own Country
Kashmir: Chalo Kashmir
Malaysia: Malaysia - Truly Asia
New York: I Love New York
Slovenia: I Feel Slovenia

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