Mhada to develop cess buildings if landlords fail

Mumbai: In a bid to provide relief to slum dwellers, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said that developers will now have to pay three years rent in advance under Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme to slum dwellers.

The government also decided to develop dilapidated cess buildings through Mhada if their landlords fail to redevelop them.

Mr. Fadnavis said that there are 14,207 cess buildings in Mumbai, adding that Mhada will acquire and redevelop them.

Mr Fadnavis added Mr Fadnavis also informed the House that the survey for redeveloping various BDD chawls is close to completion. “This will be one of the biggest redevelopment project in Asia,” he said.

Mr Fadnavis noted that the area under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has been expanded from 3,965 sq km to 4,355 sq km. “Metro works worth more than `1.16 lakh crore  are underway in Mumbai and MMR. Metro 3 will be operational in two phases: 2021 and 2022,” Mr Fadnavis said.

Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, which will connect east Mumbai with Nhava-Sheva across the creek, is another major project and the work on it is progressing in full swing, he said.

Planning agencies catering to the Mumbai region including the MMRDA and CIDCO are getting loans at low interest rates, the chief minister said.

The Surya Water Supply Scheme will ensure water supply of 403 million litres per day to the region, he said. The Damanganga-Pinjal project will meet Mumbai’s water needs till 2060, Mr Fadnavis added.

Giving a deadline for the metro projects, the chief minister said that the projects works are in full swing at large scale. “The Metro-3’s tunnel works have been completed up to 50 per cent. The first phase will be operational in 2021 and second phase in 2022. A new contractor for Metro projects in Navi Mumbai has also been appointed,” he said.

“For any decision pertaining to infrastructure projects in Mumbai, the state has to seek 18 to 19 types of permission from various agencies. But the process has been made easy through war room,” he added.

Earlier in the day, participating in the debate on the extension of MMRDA, BJP legislator Mangal Prabhat Lodha sought a proper model draft agreement for redeveloping old buildings.  

Mr Lodha, the founder of Lodha group, is also a well known propoerty developer in the city.

Mr Fadnavis announced that a common development control regulation (DCR) for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region is in final stages.

Meanwhile, Opposition criticised the BMC for its failure to handle the first rains of the monsoon.