Mumbai: The ambitious Bombay Development Directorate (BDD) chawls' redevelopment has been delayed due to fund constraints, confirmed Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad to the Free Press Journal. Therefore, to provide funding to the biggest housing project, the ministry is seeking help from foreign direct investors. Investors from several countries, including Canada and USA, have already approached them, he added.
Interestingly, in a month's time, the prince of Dubai and the owner of Emaar properties, a global property developer, will be visiting Mumbai. The prince has shown his interest in investing in the city's housing sector. This will help revive the cash crunch realty sector, Awhad said.
The former saffron party government in April 2017 performed the ground breaking ceremony and officially announced the much-awaited redevelopment of BDD chawls located at three prominent places --NM Joshi Marg, Naigaon, and Worli. However, the project's civil work has not been started until now. As per the initial plan, MHADA, which is the nodal agency undertaking BDD Chawl redevelopment project, was to begin the rehab building construction work. After its completion, the saleable house construction work was slated to commence. It planned to sell the under-construction houses and complete the remaining project work, but the plan is not working, confirmed an official.
Currently, the state housing agency is stuck in convincing the tenants to support the redevelopment project. It has already finished the appointment of renowned developers--TATA, Shapoorji Pallonji and L&T-- to undertake the 206 BDD chawls spread across 92 acres, of which 120 are in Worli, 32 in NM Joshi Marg, 42 in Naigao and 12 in Worli. The total project estimated cost is Rs 17,000 crore, approximately.
