CM to launch Mumbai BDD chawl revamp tomorrow, city to get 16,000 affordable homes
BDD chawls occupy 92.86 acres of prime land in Naigaon, Worli, Lower Parel and Sewri in central Mumbai. A push to the revamp, which has been stuck for 21 years, could generate housing stock
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis will inaugurate an ambitious scheme on Saturday to revamp one of the oldest chawls in central Mumbai under which the state expects to build at least 16,000 affordable houses in the space-starved city.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the project, which was delayed by 21 years, to redevelop the British-era Bombay Development Department (BDD) chawls will be held at Worli’s Jamboree Maidan.
The BDD chawls are spread across 92.86 acres of prime land in locations such as Naiguam, Worli, Lower Parel and Sewri. The 207 chawls that were built in the 1920s by the then British government are currently in extremely dilapidated condition.
Residents pay just Rs 100 as monthly rent to the state government’s public works department (PWD).
The project is significant as these chawls occupy prime land and has the potential to generate a handsome stock of affordable houses. Apart from houses, the entire infrastructure in these areas would be also be developed.
Each tenant would get a 500 square feet house in the new buildings after the project that would be carried out in phases and will be completed within a period of 7 years.
The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada), the state’s nodal authority for the redevelopment projects, has been entrusted with undertaking the revamp of these chawls.
In the first phase, Naiguam and Lower Parel will be taken up by leading private construction companies Larsen & Toubro and Shapoorji Pallonji respectively. The tenders for Worli BDD chawls have been floated and will be finalised in the next 3 months, officials have said.
The decision on the Sewri BDD chawls is still pending as they are located on the Mumbai Port Trust (MPT) land where there is no redevelopment policy in place.