Maharashtra state government will grant Rs 1,000 crore construction rights sop for Dharavi Redevelopment.

By Abhay Harish Shah, Realty Quarter

The State government will grant additional development rights (known as the fungible FSI) for free, providing superior support to the developer of the Dharavi Redevelopment project. The decision might cost the government a turnover of Rs 1,000crore.

The government grants the rehabilitation component of all redevelopment projects a free fungible FSI of 0.35. The Commission does charge 50% of the Ready Reckoner Rate for the selling component if it is a residential project and 60% if it is a commercial project. The Dharavi Redevelopment Project approved in 1999 by the cabinet decision has yet to be implemented, as it has been found economically unsustainable.

Dharavi is in the funnel area of the airport and the buildings are therefore subject to height restrictions. “All of the FSI generated in this project is to be consumed here. Development rights transfer is not applicable here,” said an official from the Department of Urban Development who issued the fungible FSI notification.

In December last year, the decision was taken to provide free fungible FSI because progress in the project was not encouraging, according to the report. “The Development Control Regulation notification was ready for free FSI in March, but now that the Model Code of Conduct was in force objections/suggestions are invited. It is done to make flats affordable,” said an official.

An architect-town planner said that while the 4 FSI in Dharavi could be used as a whole, there was no way to consume more. “The government shouldn’t have gotten into the project without a viable study, because it won’t make it viable by offering more FSIs,” a source said.

The Government has now been promised additional railway land for Rs 800 crores, which it intends to use for the rehabilitation and for the sales component of the riverfront. The money is to be raised by MHADA and SRA. MHADA Employee Syndicates opposed the move by stating that the authorities do not have the money to give because they have their own projects to carry out.

Niranjan Hiranandani, NAREDCO President, said that managing people is a challenge, even though money is not a constraint. “Dharavi has residential, commercial and industrial units. It’s a country in itself. It’s a complex task even to temporarily rehabilitate all of these,” he said. Another architect said the slums are now 2-3 stories tall, and the eligibility issue would pose a major problem. All slum-dwellers up to 2000 are entitled to a free tenement and those after January 1, 2000, till 2011 need to pay a transfer fee.

State officials stated that the highest bid is being undertaken by a Consortium that offered Rs 7,500 crore, the SecLink Group, based in Dubai.