Relaunch of Mumbai slum makeover comes amid opposition

By Siddhartha Kumar Jan 24, 2012, 2:06 GMT

New Delhi - The Dharavi slum, a dense sprawl of ramshackle shanties and sweatshops in the heart of Mumbai, presents a stark contrast with the better-off bits of India's richest city and its growing number of swanky business centres and luxury residences.

Asia's biggest slum, made famous by the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, is a bustling town in itself where more than 1 million people live and work to generate annual turnover of about 1 billion dollars.

Workers slog away for long hours in tanneries and recycling units listening to Bollywood music on the radio while barefoot children play outside in labyrinthine alleys. Travel operators with foreign tourists in tow run slum tours in Dharavi, a crime-prone area.

But a redevelopment plan costing more than 3 billion dollars was expected to finally take off in the next several months and change the face of Dharavi and the country's commercial capital in the process.

Authorities in Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, recently announced new development regulations and were to invite tenders from contractors to relaunch the project originally announced in 2004.

Under the plan, developers would demolish Dharavi. They would provide homes for the slum dwellers with total floor space of 2.78 million square metres. Developers would also get the right to build more than 3.7 million square metres of commercial space, shopping malls and luxury apartments.

The project has been on the back burner in recent years because of delays by authorities examining the plan, bidders backing out because of the huge investments involved and opposition from locals.

State Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said anomalies in development rules had been removed to meet the demands of slum dwellers and permit developers to construct more than what was previously allowed.

Yet its execution remained a challenge as slum dwellers still oppose the 'flawed' plan even as the project costs have jumped fivefold.

Save Dharavi Movement president Raju Korde said there were concerns over the size of the 'tiny flats' for Dharavi residents and warned that thousands of families would go homeless.

Under the new rules, residents would receive 28-square-metre homes free in place of the 21-square-metre ones promised earlier, but they insist on 37 square metres.

'We are not opposing redevelopment, but residents should get a share of the benefits,' Korde said. 'A sophisticated land grab is happening in the garb of redevelopment.'

Another challenge is the eligibility criteria that allow housing for 57,000 families, but Korde said more than 80,000 families are entitled to homes.

Sheikh Abu Khalid, former president of the Dharavi Businessmen Welfare Association, said livelihoods would be hit because many informal businesses would be evicted.

More than 4,500 industrial units are to be rehabilitated in a designated commercial area, but many businesses deemed polluting or hazardous would not be relocated.

'We will get better places to live, but what's the point if we have no bread to eat?' Abu Khalid asked. 'What about rehabilitation of our recycling units, which are among the main industries here?'

Pranay Vakil, chairman of the property brokerage firm Knight Frank, said demands for bigger flats would cut redevelopment profits and deter developers 'but it's a doable project.'

Jockin Arputham, president of the National Slum Dwellers Federation, who has spearheaded the movement against the project, said it was pointless to delay it any further.

'We should definitely see the project start in two months following the February municipal polls,' he said. 'With community-based participation, we will keep fighting and get accommodation for the remaining families.'

Dharavi has long been a hindrance to the aspirations of local authorities to transform Mumbai into a world-class city modelled on Shanghai.

A senior housing official who requested anonymity conceded that the plan would take a few months to launch. 'There are a number of issues to deal with, including appointing a management consultant, arriving at viable financial and design models,' he said.

Another activist, Sunder Rajan, said redevelopment plans, including those of slums near the city airport, have been delayed because of a lack of political will.

'All political parties want cuts in the deal but also want to reap votes with populist measures,' Rajan said. 'They are competing to show slum dwellers, 'Look, I got you more area. I got you a market.''

Sheela Patel, chairwoman of Shack/Slum Dwellers International, said the challenge lay in balancing people's needs and making the project work for the city as Dharavi was a vital junction that linked key parts of Mumbai.

'Imagine taking out a town and rebuilding a human settlement anew,' she said. 'It involves several years and huge dislocations. The solution is not easy, but the longer the plans are delayed, the denser the slums become and the harder it will be to find solutions.'

'What happens in Dharavi will eventually be decided with a terrible compromise,' she said.