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Maharashtra okays Dharavi revamp
The Congress-led Democratic Front (DF) Government on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to the much-awaited redevelopment of Asia’s biggest slum, Dharavi, wooing voters ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) poll.
In an announcement made less than an hour before the State Election Commission (SEC) declared the schedule for polls to the BMC, nine other municipal corporations and 27 zila parishads, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said his Government had made some new provisions in the development control rules (DCR) of Mumbai to facilitate the makeover of Dharavi slum.
“New provisions that we have introduced today, coupled with the structure protection and transfer policy for residents of slums built before 1995 that we announced yesterday, will give a major boost to the redevelopment of Dharavi,” Chavan said.
Chavan, who had on Monday made some Mumbai-centric announcements, like the re-development of JJ Hospital at a cost of Rs629 crore and setting up two more 300-bed hospital-cum-medical colleges in the suburbs, said the State Government had given a “push” to the Dharavi project.
“Though this (Dharavi redevelopment) proposal was approved in 2004, there had not been any progress in the implementation of the project all these years. As a result, there was considerable uncertainty in the lives of 60,000-odd people living this slum. Therefore, we deemed it necessary to put new provisions in place in the DCR so that re-development could be taken up without any further delay,” he said.
According to Chavan, each family (in the names of both husband and wife) would be given tenements admeasuring 300 square feet of carpet area. “We will allow 4 floor space index (FSI) for redevelopment. Slums and chawls will be redeveloped on the lines of cluster development. A 10-year corpus fund will be set up for maintenance of redeveloped buildings,” he said.
Chavan said redevelopment would be undertaken first in sector 5 of Dharavi, where a major part of the land is owned by the Maharashtra Government.
The State-run Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) or any other public undertaking would function as the nodal agency for the re-development project. “We will invite competitive bids for the project from public sector undertakings,” he said.
In a related development, the State Government also amended several rules and regulations in the DCM of Mumbai. Expressing confidence that the changes would be in the interests of Mumbaikars, especially the property buyers, Chavan said, “The changes will not only establish a level playing field for the developers, they will also reduce arbitrary decision making. The changes will bring about an element of certainty amongst the investors and will lead to reduction in the prices of property”.
The Congress-led Democratic Front (DF) Government on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to the much-awaited redevelopment of Asia’s biggest slum, Dharavi, wooing voters ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) poll.
In an announcement made less than an hour before the State Election Commission (SEC) declared the schedule for polls to the BMC, nine other municipal corporations and 27 zila parishads, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said his Government had made some new provisions in the development control rules (DCR) of Mumbai to facilitate the makeover of Dharavi slum.
“New provisions that we have introduced today, coupled with the structure protection and transfer policy for residents of slums built before 1995 that we announced yesterday, will give a major boost to the redevelopment of Dharavi,” Chavan said.
Chavan, who had on Monday made some Mumbai-centric announcements, like the re-development of JJ Hospital at a cost of Rs629 crore and setting up two more 300-bed hospital-cum-medical colleges in the suburbs, said the State Government had given a “push” to the Dharavi project.
“Though this (Dharavi redevelopment) proposal was approved in 2004, there had not been any progress in the implementation of the project all these years. As a result, there was considerable uncertainty in the lives of 60,000-odd people living this slum. Therefore, we deemed it necessary to put new provisions in place in the DCR so that re-development could be taken up without any further delay,” he said.
According to Chavan, each family (in the names of both husband and wife) would be given tenements admeasuring 300 square feet of carpet area. “We will allow 4 floor space index (FSI) for redevelopment. Slums and chawls will be redeveloped on the lines of cluster development. A 10-year corpus fund will be set up for maintenance of redeveloped buildings,” he said.
Chavan said redevelopment would be undertaken first in sector 5 of Dharavi, where a major part of the land is owned by the Maharashtra Government.
The State-run Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) or any other public undertaking would function as the nodal agency for the re-development project. “We will invite competitive bids for the project from public sector undertakings,” he said.
In a related development, the State Government also amended several rules and regulations in the DCM of Mumbai. Expressing confidence that the changes would be in the interests of Mumbaikars, especially the property buyers, Chavan said, “The changes will not only establish a level playing field for the developers, they will also reduce arbitrary decision making. The changes will bring about an element of certainty amongst the investors and will lead to reduction in the prices of property”.
