Bhendi Bazar Redevelopment Gets Final Nod

The Maharasthra state government has given a green signal for redeveloping Bhendi Bazar. The redevelopment of this commercial and residential locality will begin in early 2014. The project is expected to be completed in three years.

Bhendi Bazar redevelopment project

Bhendi bazar is a commercial and residential locality in South Mumbai and spans across about 16.5 acres. The locality is heavily congested. The redevelopment project is intended to provide better living conditions with modern infrastructure and amenities. The locality has about 3,200 homes in about 250 buildings. It has over 1,250 business establishments. There are over 20,000 people in the locality.

Saifee Bhurani Upliftment Trust (SBUT) has taken up the redevelopment project. The project was first conceived in 2009, but got delayed due to pending clearances. The project has now received a final nod from the state government. The work on the redevelopment project will begin in 2014.

Earlier blockages for the project

The project couldn’t move further though it was planned in 2009, due to delays in certain clearances from the state government. One clearance was specifically related to clause 33(9) under the redevelopment control regulation (DCR). According to the clause, the developer must buy 100% of the property. Without this, the developer cannot redevelop the locality.

The developer has currently purchased 85% of the properties. It is unable to purchase the remainder yet due to unreasonable demands by property owners. However, the state government has agreed to allow the developer to go ahead with the construction considering the importance of the project.

Redevelopment process

The redevelopment project is a cluster redevelopment project in which the entire locality is redeveloped in form of a cluster. The minimum area for such a project is one acre. In the Bhendi bazar redevelopment project, the entire locality is divided into nine sub-clusters, each sub-cluster being more than one acre in size. This helps in avoiding reconstruction of the sub-cluster.

Unlike other redevelopment projects in Mumbai where about 67% of the property is for rehabilitation, this project will have about 80% land for rehabilitation. The remaining can be sold in open market. The project will have a total of 17 buildings. Twelve buildings will be reserved for rehabilitation of the existing tenants, one will be reserved for MHADA and the remaining four buildings will be sold in open market.

The project cost will be borne by the trust. Proceedings from the sales in the open market component will also be used for funding the project. The trust has asked the government for an FSI of 4 in the transit camps in order to accommodate more residents. It will also be swapping about 4,500 sq.mt of land with the BMC.