A smell of decay and waste hangs heavy as you approach Dharavi’s 90-feet main road. That’s only to be expected in the world’s largest slum with more than half a million people per square km. So when SVR Srinivas, chief executive officer at the Dharavi Redevelopment Project, describes the world’s largest urban rejuvenation project as a big step towards making Mumbai “slum-free”, it sounds dramatic – even unbelievable.
But as head of the Rs 3 lakh crore redevelopment project, Srinivas has the air of a man who knows what he is talking about. The plans are grand. “The whole concept is “walk to work” Srinivas says. The master plan for Dharavi proposes road widths of 9 metre to 36 metre, each serving a specific purpose. A dense road network inside Dharavi will ensure that residents can commute with the arterial routes without having to come on the main road. “Dharavi’s streets will be wide and interlinked every 125 metre,” he adds. People in Dharavi can access all amenities such as central park, riverside promenade , business hubs and so on within 15 minutes of commuting.
A third of the massive corpus will go into infrastructure and rehabilitation and home to home internal sewage lines will be drawn by Navbharat Mega Developers, the joint venture between the Maharashtra government and the Adani Group while the major sewage lines will be drawn by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.
There are also plans to have a one-time corpus fund of Rs 40,000 per tenement, which will be later transferred to the buildings for the maintenance. Each property also has 10% commercial built-up area whose rent will be shared with the buildings for the same purpose. The interior roads will be built by the SPV, which will be later transferred to the MCGM, added Srinivas.
The SPV will create an eco-system for 19,000 business units in Dharavi including leather, pottery and food items that will get exported, Srinivas said. The units will be encouraged to use pollution-free technology to keep the nearby Mithi river and the entire area less polluted. The carrot: these units will get a five-year tax holiday.
Developers such as Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director of Hiranandani group, are encouraged by the fact the commuting from Dharavi should be smoother compared to the Bandra Kurla Complex due to connectivity from all sides. Dharavi is surrounded by all the three main routes – the central, western and harbour lines. In addition, the metro is also near and it has two bus depots.
Srinivas said they have also requested the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) to extend line 11 from Wadala to Dharavi. The line currently runs from Wadala to CSTM. If this happens, passengers can go to Thane comfortably.
Business district for everyone
Maharshtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said both rehabilitees and those who bought properties in Dharavi will get access to open spaces such as the central park, promenade and other amenities unlike the normal slum redevelopment projects where rehabilitees are kept separately.
While those are eligible will stay in the area till new houses are built, those who are ineligible will get rental accommodation in different places of Mumbai with an option to buy the apartments later.
What would interesting to see is the impact of the redevelopment programme on the Mumbai’s skyrocketing property prices – one of the most expensive in the world. Srinivas believes that there will be some sobering effect.
Reports said the joint venture is looking to launch the first phase of the free-sale component, including residential properties by the end of the year. And over 50% of the residential units in this phase are expected to fall within the affordable and mid-income segments.
Asia’s biggest slum has some staggering numbers. Out of the Dharavi Notified Area of 251 hectare, the net developable area stands at 108.99 hectare. Of this, 47.20 hectares have been allocated for the rehabilitation of residents, while the rest 47.95 hectare are designated for the saleable component, including residential and , commercial. The good news: The plan also earmarks nearly 40 hectare for open spaces.