BDD is getting redeveloped. What about Dharavi?

The issue of the BDD chawl redevelopment projects at Naigaon and N.M. Joshi Marg has finally been solved with the bhoomipujan of these projects took place on Saturday. But the Dharavi redevelopment project, which was taken up 12 years ago, is still lagging behind in terms of implementation. Dharavi residents have alleged that state government has not taken any concrete steps to take this project ahead and they have started feeling dejected for not seeing the chances of the redevelopment of their area.

Though the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) has submitted a new proposal to the state government by dividing three sectors into ten, the state government has not yet provided its attention to the proposal submitted many months back.

The state government had taken up the Dharavi redevelopment project to turn Asia’s largest slum area into an international city. A special agency, DRP, was formed for this purpose. It issued a tender in 2009 but it was later on cancelled. Following this, the project got stalled. With a view to bringing this project back on the path of progress, the DRP divided it into sectors. It handed over sector 5 to the MHADA but MHADA could build only one tower in last 4-5 years. On the other hand, tenders were issued five times in 2016 but no builder shown interest in this project.

Though the DRP has minimised the conditions, no builder has come forward to file tender for this project. Following this, the DRP further divided the project into 10 subsectors so that builders can come forward and submit their bids for the project. The DRP sent this revised proposal to the state government but it is still awaiting government’s nod.

A senior officer in the DRP informed Mumbai Live that there is a vast difference between the BDD chawl redevelopment project and the Dharavi redevelopment project. There is less density and no issue of slum-dwellers in the BDD project and hence it got solved.

Meanwhile, Ravindra Waikar, minister of state for housing, assured Dharavi residents that their redevelopment project would be solved soon.