MUMBAI: Slum enclaves in prime localities of the city have turned out to be gold mines for private developers.
In an irony of sorts, some of Mumbai's most expensive luxury residential skyscrapers have been built on slum land as part of the state government's controversial slum rehabilitation scheme, popularly known as SRA. These slum sprawls are mainly located in south and central Mumbai where high-end apartments sell for between Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 a sq ft.
For instance, India's tallest twin residential buildings, Imperial Heights, at Tardeo in south Mumbai, were built as part of a slum rehab scheme. At Worli, a Ritz-Carlton hotel is coming up on a slum sprawl.
Twenty years after it was introduced to rehouse eligible slum families free of cost in new buildings, the scheme has allowed builders to rake in super-normal profits. For those who have ventured into this scheme, the returns are phenomenal. But many prominent builders still stay away from it because they do not want to deal with extortionist slum lords, political goons and sometimes, the underworld.
The government's largesse is extra generous. The public land on which the slum is located is virtually given away for a pittance to the developer, who pays just 25% of the plot's ready reckoner rate. The cross-subsidy scheme mandates that the developer who manages to procure consent of 70% of slum dwellers, must rehabilitate them free of cost in new buildings in a portion of the plot. As compensation, the builder receives additional construction rights to build luxury towers and sell them in the open market.
Source : ET
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