FPJ Exclusive: Government Agencies To Redevelop Slum Projects In Limbo

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government plans to hand over to government agencies slum redevelopment projects that are currently in limbo in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

Highly placed sources privy to the plans shared with The Free Press Journal that over 500 encroached plots are being identified. The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) will take up the redevelopment projects.

So far, the government has identified 512 slum redevelopment projects stuck at various stages. The MHADA, MMRDA and CIDCO, in coordination with the Slum Redevelopment Authority (SRA), will take over the projects, complete the rehabilitation component and hand over the tenements to slum dwellers.

Once the rehabilitation handover process is through, the land that has been vacated will be monetised, to recover the investment.

“MHADA, MMRDA and CIDCO can sell the lands to developers. Which builder would not want a land parcel in the MMR that has a clear land title and that too from a government agency itself? It is a win-win idea for all the stakeholders involved. This will be a revenue generator for the government agencies.  Stranded slum dwellers will get their new homes and developers will get as many as 500 clear land title plots for their projects,” explained the source.

The developers involved in these stuck projects are unlikely to get any financial relief, as they have left lakhs of residents stranded, with the fate of the projects unknown.

State Govt To Send Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis Report To Centre

In another development, last week, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told the legislative assembly that the state government would send the Union Government an environmental cost-benefit analysis report on the redevelopment of 25,000 slums along Mumbai’s coastline. This report is being prepared by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and the SRA for slum pockets falling under the Coastal Regulation Zone 2 category.

According to a CRZ notification dated January 6, 2011, issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, there were conditions in place for the redevelopment of these slums. As per this notification, if these slums were to be redeveloped, 51 per cent of the cost share would be with the state government.

The Union environment department later changed this notification on January 18, 2019, but since there was still no clarity on the redevelopment of protected huts in this notification, the state government sent a letter to the Centre, which then directed it to submit a proposal in this regard.