A home for Kamathipura residents as Mumbai starts biggest cluster rejig project

The government had green-lit the city’s biggest cluster redevelopment project in January, 2023. The settlement is spread over 27.59 acres in south Mumbai

MUMBAI: The Kamathipura redevelopment project received a stimulus on Tuesday as the state government laid out the plan on what home owners stand to gain from the face-lift. It approved offering a 500-square feet flat to every owner of 50-square meter (539-square feet) plot in the area. Additionally, those holding tenements on plots the size of 51- to 100-square meters will be eligible for two flats measuring 500-square feet each; and for every 151- to 200-square meter plot the owner would be eligible for four flats measuring 500-square feet each and so on. An order to this effect was issued by the state housing department.

Mumbai, India- October 29, 2023: Aerial view of the 5th lane of Kamathipura, in Mumbai, India, on Sunday, October 29, 2023. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

The government had green-lit the city’s biggest cluster redevelopment project in January, 2023. The settlement is spread over 27.59 acres in south Mumbai.

The state government’s present move will be a big relief to home owners who were unsure about what was in stake for them as part of the redevelopment and hence were opposing the project. The state housing department took the decision following demands made by the Kamathipura redevelopment committee. It was also approved by the high power committee headed by Valsa Nair, additional chief secretary, housing department, formed to monitor the progress of the project.

“The order has been issued to clarify that the owners will also get their share while giving up their buildings for the project,” confirmed a senior official from the housing department.

The Kamathipura redevelopment project has been approved on the lines of the BDD chawls redevelopment and will be held under Development Control Rule 33(9), which governs reconstruction or redevelopment of cessed buildings or urban renewal schemes in the island city.

Most of the existing houses in Kamathipura range from 60- to 1,614-square feet, and are in dilapidated state. There are 943 cess buildings over 100 years old housing 8,238 tenants. There are also 349 non-cess buildings, 14 religious structures, two schools and four reserved plots that will be covered under the project. Eleven redeveloped buildings constructed by MHADA will also be part of it. Of the 943 buildings, 180 were in a dilapidated condition, and their tenants have already been shifted to transit camps.

Most buildings are owned by private individuals who do not live there and have given their properties on rent.

MHADA, which is the nodal agency of the project, had appointed a consultant to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) and request for proposal (RFP). “The DPR and RFP are ready and we are soon going to float tenders for the project,” the official from the housing department said.

This is not the first time that Kamathipura’s overhaul has been proposed. In the 1980s, MHADA carried out a comprehensive survey as the first step towards transforming the entire neighbourhood through an urban renewal proposal, but the project was stalled citing financial risks. In 2005, a local private developer expressed interest in undertaking the redevelopment of a large part of Kamathipura, according to a report prepared by Tata Institute of Social Sciences.