New DCPR rules make slum schemes unviable in Mumbai: SRA chief

Mumbai

In a blow to the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), the new Development Control and Promotion Rules (DCPR 2034) have made SRA schemes unviable. If these rules are not rectified, slum rehabilitation projects will fail to take off and no builder will be able to execute slum projects.

This will further sink the failing realty market, where SRA schemes are one of the only ways to create new housing stock.

In a letter to Nitin Kareer, Principal Secretary, Urban Development Department, SRA CEO Deepak Kapoor has pointed out six regulations in the new DCPR 2034 that are making SRA projects unviable.

“Redevelopment under Slum Rehabilitation scheme takes place with higher FSI and higher tenement density. Therefore, unless open spaces stipulated in Regulation 41 (5) are relaxed, no SR scheme will be viable. Under the DCPR 2034, the carpet area of rehabilitation hutments is increased to 27.88 sq m, requiring a larger footprint for rehab buildings. Further, there are many slums in Mumbai with physical restrictions in place on account of civil aviation requirements etc. Therefore, if a minimum tenement density of 650 per net hectare for rehab components is insisted on, construction of requisite free sale component for making the scheme viable will not be possible,” Kapoor’s letter stated.

A senior bureaucrat told Mirror: “Kapoor has taken a series of meetings with tenants and developers to resolve pending issues. A lot of transparency has been brought into the SRA. However, the new DCPR regulations have hit slum projects and must be rectified.”

Officials said CM Devendra Fadnavis had been pushing for housing for slum dwellers since he took office in 2014. Last year, in a move that made the cut-off date for eligibility for rehousing slum-dwellers almost irrelevant, the government announced all residents of slums in Mumbai would be entitled to rehabilitation under the SR policy.

“At a time when the CM is pushing for a slum-free city, his own department is killing the slum schemes and making them unviable. These rules must be corrected at once or the CM will face a tough situation before the elections,” a senior BJP functionary said.