.jpg)
Mumbai the city of dreams has 77% of India’s tall buildings and also has the distinction of being the city with Asia’s largest slum, Dharavi. And along with Dharavi, there are a few other major slum areas that are gradually undergoing a transformation. The Government of Maharashtra slum rehabilitation scheme, using land as a resource and by allowing incentive floor space index (FSI) in the form of tenements for sale in the open market, has been engaging private developers for slum rehabilitation tenements which are to be provided free to the slum-dwellers. Keeping in mind the ever-increasing number of slums in the city, the state government has taken up some of the major redevelopment projects across the city of Mumbai.
Dharavi Redevelopment Project
Dharavi, spanning 600 acres, is one of Asia's largest slums, home to 60,000 families. A significant step forward was taken in 2024 with the commencement of a survey of each resident's tenement, expected to be completed by October or November 2024. The Adani Realty has won the bid for the 259-hectare redevelopment project. The ambitious seven-year project aims to rehabilitate 6.5 lakh slum dwellers across 2.5 sq km.
Bandra Reclamation Redevelopment
Another bid won by Adani Realty is that of 24- acre Bandra Reclamation Redevelopment close to the Bandra-Worli Sea Link. In Phase 1, the developer will take up 6-7 acres of land where MSRDC is located for development. The bidder has to relocate the MSRDC office and provide them with a fully furnished 50,000 sq ft office within a five-kilometer radius of its present office, according to the terms of the bid. The land parcel has a potential development area of 45 lakh square feet and is valued at around `30,000 crore, as per reports. Bhendi Bazaar Redevelopment Project The Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT) is spearheading the Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment project, aimed at revitalizing the cramped and rundown 16.5- acre area in South Mumbai. The ambitious project entails the redevelopment of 250 buildings, 1,250 shops, and the rehabilitation of 3,200 families, with a focus on modernizing infrastructure. The revamped complex will feature 17 towers, 60-feet roads, ground-plus-two floors for commercial use and underground parking. Residential units will boast a minimum 350 sq. ft. carpet area.
Kamathipura Redevelopment Project
In January 2023, the Maharashtra government gave the green light for the redevelopment of Kamathipura, a sprawling 27.59-acre site in south Mumbai. Most of the existing houses in Kamathipura range from 60- to 1,614-square feet, and are in dilapidated state. There are 943 cess buildings over 100 years old housing 8,238 tenants. There are also 349 non-cess buildings, 14 religious structures, two schools and four reserved plots that will be covered under the project. The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) is overseeing the project as the nodal agency and special planning authority. It has appointed a consultant to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) and request for proposal (RFP) which are ready & its is soon going to float tenders for the project.
Ramabai Nagar Slum Redevelopment Project
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) have collaborated on the Ramabai Nagar Slum Redevelopment project, aiming to transform the 33.15-hectare Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar slum in Ghatkopar, Mumbai. The ambitious project seeks to provide housing for 16,575 slum residents, while also generating revenue through commercial sales. With a projected completion timeline of 10 years, the first phase is already underway, with anticipated revenue of Rs 10,000 crore from commercial sales.
Bandra Slum Redevelopment Project
The multi-storied slum pocket, called Shastri Nagar, had touched the boundary of platform 1 of Bandra station for the past several decades. The project had been stalled since 2002 but is now making progress with demolitions underway. The plot will be used to build several towers to rehabilitate 1,400 eligible slum families. The developer, Pioneer, will also build a tower in the sale component. Additionally, an access road will be constructed providing direct connectivity from the west end of Bandra station to Western Express Highway. Once completed, the project is expected to significantly revitalize the area.
TALE OF TWO CITIES
The mega slum redevelopment projects of Mumbai are stories of hope and despair. The open market apartments for sale are built as luxury skyscrapers with lifestyle amenities and lavish green spaces and in contrast the rehabilitation tenements are clustered buildings devoid of open spaces or basic facilities. These projects promise a better shelter for the slum residents; in reality the unthoughtful and poor quality of buildings leave the original residents of that land high and dry. Mumbai is not just a city of dreams but for some of nightmares. Urban planners also contend that, state government’s rehabilitation schemes by involving private developers have had serious implications for the slum dwellers as well as the city at large. Specifically, the development rights known as TDR (Transferable Development Rights) for the developers, has deviated slum rehabilitation projects from creating social housing to becoming siphon revenues by the private development bodies. The condition of many resettlement colonies is better left unsaid. Talking to Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects residents, one gets to hear their plight, as they either have been shifted to far off locations eft in apartment blocks without easy access to workplace or social infrastructure or they have been housed in cramped quarters of so called ‘vertical slums’, with poor natural light or ventilation. According to a housing rights activist, “The SRA was intended to improve the lives of poor living in slums and chawls. However, the cases we see show that in many rehab buildings, they are facing problems such as poor ventilation, contaminated water, and many projects being disconnected from the rest of the city. In addition, the maintenance costs and cost of lifts adds burden to their meagre earnings. When the government says ‘rehabilitation’, it should increase living standards.” Not surprisingly, many rehabilitation project's residents go back to living in slums, to escape suffocating vertical living and daily struggle of earning, to neighbourhoods where there is a sense of community among neighbours looking out for each other. Talking of safety, builders cut cost by compromising on fire safety standards such as non-provision of fire-fighting systems and planning narrow widths of corridors and stairways to accommodate more apartments. Architects explain that slum rehabilitation is being carried out under section 33(10) of Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR 2034), providing higher floor space index, but this is leading to relaxation in open spaces and setback norms. The result is less open space between buildings, narrow corridors and stairways leading to poor ventilation standards and inhabitable living conditions. On top, residents cannot maintain the buildings given their incomes. Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) had said in a media briefing, “Moving from a slum to a rehab building offers a lifestyle change for only about 25% of the slum dwellers, for most these buildings are not designed as per their livelihoods involving recycling goods or selling items which require storage. Neither their livelihoods conform with living in buildings nor do the earnings to match the responsibilities like paying for waste management, lifts, electricity, water charges, etc.” Shweta Damle, Founder of Habitat and Livelihood Welfare Association in an interview concurs that living in multi-storey rehab buildings is a huge financial burden on the poor. "The maintenance goes up but their income remains the same with the result that many of them prefer to give out their tenements on rent or sell them.”
FINDING THE RIGHT ANSWERS
With mega slum redevelopment projects being assigned, the government agencies will have to own up to their responsibilities to ensure a comprehensive housing for the slum dwellers. As the, current vertical slums fail to deliver on the promises made, leaving residents trapped in challenging situations, experts suggest shifting from developer-led redevelopment process to a community-led slum redevelopment. To do so, one needs to understand that slums are not just housing for the poor but are also thriving centres of small businesses. For instance, in Dharavi, about 5,000 businesses industries including pottery, leather and textiles operate from around 15,000 one-room workshops. Self-redevelopment, gives them control over the solutions as per their needs and upgrading their living conditions as well as commercial enterprises. “Such a proposal could be easily incorporated within city development plans by transferring the development rights of land parcels marked as slums to the association of the current inhabitants of that neighbourhood,” says architect Rahul Kadri. An example worth emulating would be of Singapore public housing. Singapore used to be full of squatter, slums and makeshift houses with no running water, electricity or sewage systems. To tackle the acute housing shortage, Housing and Development Board (HDB) was formed in 1960 by the government. Within a single generation, the landscape of housing in Singapore was changed. Over the next few years, the HDB delivered high-rise, mass public housing, building more than 8,000 low-cost flats in four years. The Land Acquisition Act of 1967 gave the HDB legal powers to acquire land compulsorily, allowing them to undertake redevelopment of slums more swiftly. In just 16 years, more than 50% of the population were living in HDB flats with clean, running water, electricity and a reliable sewage system. Slum dwellers were invited to move into these new flats and many were excited at the prospect of owning a modern home. Whole communities were relocated together and old neighbours continued their friendship in new estates. With the promise of familiar faces in the new estates, more were willing to relocate.
An example worth emulating would be of Singapore public housing where within a single generation, high-rise low-cost flats replaced what were once ubiquitous slums.
Slums are not just housing for the poor but are also thriving centres of small businesses. Shifting from developer-led redevelopment to a community-led slum redevelopment could provide a holistic solution.
