Mumbai: The long-stalled redevelopment of 388 ageing and dilapidated MHADA buildings across South Mumbai may finally gain momentum, with the state housing authority agreeing to step in after repeated attempts to attract private developers failed. These buildings, home to over 27,000 families, have struggled for years to initiate redevelopment due to small plot sizes and a lack of consensus among housing societies.
Located across key southern neighbourhoods such as Colaba, Girgaon, Mumbadevi, Byculla, Sewri, Prabhadevi and Mahim, each of these structures typically contains 80 to 100 compact flats measuring between 100 and 200 sq ft.
Most of these buildings were last reconstructed by MHADA three to four decades ago, replacing nearly 900 old structures at the time. Today, they once again face structural distress, but their plot sizes, often between just 400 and 600 sq metres, make them commercially unviable for private developers under current redevelopment norms.
Attempts by societies to club adjoining buildings to offer larger land parcels have repeatedly fallen through due to disagreements among residents. With private redevelopment hitting a dead end, the MHADA Sangharsh Kruti Samiti, representing these buildings, approached state authorities seeking intervention.
According to a Hindustan Times report, a breakthrough came with a letter from the office of Praveen Darekar, chief of the state’s Self-Redevelopment Authority, confirming that MHADA will undertake redevelopment if groups of buildings jointly pass resolutions requesting it. The letter, also sent to MHADA, states: “If a group of buildings comes together and resolves that MHADA should undertake a redevelopment project, MHADA will undertake that redevelopment project.”
Eknath Rajapure, working president of the samiti, called the decision a major relief for thousands of residents. He noted that nearly one-third of the buildings could immediately benefit. According to the report, Rajapure stated that since the land belongs to MHADA, the agency’s willingness to take up cluster-style redevelopment removes a critical obstacle.
The association is also pushing for the Mini-Cluster Redevelopment Policy, currently under discussion for Mira-Bhayandar, to be extended to Mumbai. If approved, the minimum required plot size for cluster redevelopment would shrink to 4,000 sq ft, bringing many more buildings into eligibility.
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However, not all MAHDA-related redevelopment efforts are progressing smoothly. A separate category of cessed buildings in the island city, whose redevelopment had stalled, has seen no movement despite a 2021 amendment empowering MHADA to acquire such projects.
Although the Mumbai Building Repairs & Reconstruction Board initially issued takeover notices to around 90 stalled projects, procedural delays and litigation have reduced active takeovers to just seven government-approved cases, leaving many older buildings still in limbo.
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