Thane would be "the first city in Asia" to be redeveloped under a cluster development scheme, Maharashtra Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde said on Friday.
It is one of the ambitious schemes of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in the state, Shinde said in a release.
The scheme for Thane will be sanctioned soon, the release added.
As per experts, "cluster development is the economic growth of residential areas to safeguard open spaces and environmental resources", the release said, adding that under this scheme, "houses are built closer together on a specific plot of land rather than distributed uniformly across vast areas".
Unsafe and dangerous buildings should be "rehabilitated" as soon as possible and courts should be asked to speed up the resolution of ongoing litigation surrounding such buildings, Shinde, a Shiv Sena leader from Thane, was quoted as saying.
Projects under the cluster plan will be registered under RERA (Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act), the release said.
The release, interestingly, noted that some people are opposed to the concept.
Residents of unauthorised structures will get units of 300 square feet but will have to pay at least 25 per cent of the market value, it said.
