The Maharashtra government has prepared a separate draft of the Development Control Rules (DCR) for the 93-acre BDD chawls. It has decided to allot a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 4, against the existing FSI of 1.33 to redevelop the chawls.
In some good news for residents of the century-old Bombay District Development (BDD) Trust chawls, after redevelopment, they will get 500sqft houses in place of their 180sqft tenements. Besides, the government will get 13,000 additional houses to sell in the open market.
The Maharashtra government has prepared a separate draft of the Development Control Rules (DCR) for the 93-acre BDD chawls. It has decided to allot a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 4, against the existing FSI of 1.33 to redevelop the chawls. BDD chawls are ground-plus-three structures, with 16,557 flats of 180sqft area.
As per a back-of-the-envelop calculation, an FSI of 4 will generate a total of 1.94 lakh sqft of the building area. Rehabilitation of existing tenants will consume 80 lakh sqft of the built-up area, while the additional 13,000 units with a size of 1,000 sqft will take around 65 lakh sqft of the built-up area. The remaining 49 lakh sqft will help the developer construct 5,000 free sale houses of 1,000 sqft area each. The total cost of the project will be around Rs20,000-22000crore.
The century-old chawls are spread over Sewri, NM Joshi Marg, Worli and Naigaum locations in South Mumbai. A senior state housing department official said the chawls will be redeveloped on the line of 33 (9) cluster redevelopment.
"We have prepared the draft DCR and forwarded it to the state urban development for its approval. Then, it will be put in public domain, and suggestions and objections will be invited. The entire 93-acre area will be developed in the next five years by private developers," said a housing department official, requesting anonymity.
The Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority (MHADA) has been appointed as the nodal agency for the project.
Pankaj Kapoor, MD at Liases Foras, a property research firm, said BDD chawls' redevelopment will create a large number of housing stock, easing the soaring property market in the city.
Sangita Shekarkar (63), a resident of Woril chawl, said her entire family has been living in the tiny 180 sqft room since 1983. She says both her sons are married, while the elder one has been blessed with a daughter recently.
"It is very difficult to live in a small room with a large family. Earlier, we had planned to buy a big house after my sons got married. But then we checked property prices, and they were beyond our reach," she said. "We hope the government takes up this project seriously," she added.
Another resident Shubhangi Surve echoed Shekarkar's sentiment. "After seeing the size of our houses, guests do not want to stay over. We cannot even ask them to stay. My son works as a driver in a private firm. We are not financially capable to buy a big house. We are waiting for redevelopment."
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