The MMRDA plans to spend Rs 300 crore on the Maharashtra Nature Park and make it a valuable centre for environment education. A dumping ground twenty years ago, the park now has evolved into a thick forest and houses a wide variety of flora and fauna.

Spread across 35 acre on the southern bank of the Mithi river near Dharavi, Mumbai, the park boasts of over 650 species of plants with a cover of around 16,500 trees and over 550 medicinal plants. The park is also home to 22 species of reptiles, 113 species of birds and over 78 of the 112 butterfly species found in Mumbai.

The master plan is expected to be completed by end-November 2009 and the redevelopment is expected to complete in the next two years.

The MMRDA also plans to construct a building for its office with a multi-level parking facility for visitors and planning schools for recycling and hydrology at the park.