SRA can work out four steps to restart stalled slum projects in Mumbai: State

There are about 225-250 SRA schemes in Mumbai which are currently languishing due to various factors like monetary issues, lack of consent from the slum dwellers as well as compliance issues

To give a boost to the slum revamp schemes, the state government has given a green signal to the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) to work out four alternate methods to kickstart the stalled slum projects.

The meeting headed by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray asked the SRA to take stringent methods to ensure that the stalled slum projects in Mumbai get rolling (Representational picture)

There are about 225-250 SRA schemes in Mumbai which are currently languishing due to various factors like monetary issues, lack of consent from the slum dwellers as well as compliance issues.

The meeting headed by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray asked the SRA to take stringent methods to ensure that the stalled projects get rolling. In most cases, the slum dwellers have vacated their houses and are sufferings as the builders have not given them their promised monthly rents.

The first option was that banks and financial institutions which have funded the project can remove the old developer and bring the new developer on board to start the project. The second option was Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) signing a joint venture (JV) with the SRA in order to take care of its sale as a part of its affordable housing scheme. The third option: the builders to be allowed to pledge their sale portion to the banks and financial institutions to raise loans. The last option will be direct inviting tenders by the SRA from reputed builders to take over the stalled project.

There are 12.50 lakh slums with 62 lakh residents staying in them. The SRA scheme, which was started in 1996, has been moving at a snail’s pace as it faced with problems like corruption, infighting as well as regulatory problems.