Redevelopment of BDD chawls: Final government nod likely next week

The state is likely to give its final approval next week to the notification for reconstruction or redevelopment of a cluster of 195 Bombay Development Division (BDD) chawls in Worli, Naigaon and N.M. Joshi Marg (Parel).

Sources in the state housing department said that tenants of BDD chawls would get a tenement of carpet area 46.45 sq m (55 sq ft) with a total permissible floor space index of 4 on the gross plot area. One of the major features of the redevelopment plan was that tenants would get a corpus fund, which they would be able to use for repairs and maintenance works for the next 10 years.

As of now, BDD chawls in Sewri are not a part of the redevelopment project as the buildings are on Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) land. The state has transferred ownership of 87 acres of land at three locations — Worli, Naigaon and N.M. Joshi Marg — to the Maharashtra Housing Area and Development Authority.

A senior bureaucrat, however, said that the gazette notification was almost like a final notification and also stated that the corpus fund would be created as directed by an empowered committee, and will be utilised for the maintenance of the rehabilitation buildings for a period of 10 years. Infrastructure such as water supply, roads, footpaths, storm-water drains and sewage systems would be done by the BMC. Of the total of 16,203 tenants, 274 are eligible slum dwellers who would be rehabilitated in the same project.