BDD chawl residents to get 500 Sqft flats in redevelopment

Residents of Bombay Development Division (BDD) chawl cluster in Worli, Naigaon and Parel areas here will get 500 Sqft flats, as per the redevelopment plan.
According to sources in the State Housing department, the tenants of the 195 BDD chawls will get a tenement of carpet area of 46.45 Sq Mtrs (500 Sqft) with a total permissible Floor Space Index (FSI) of 4 on the gross plot area.
"One of the major features of the redevelopment plan is that the tenants will get a corpus fund which they will be able to use for repairs and maintenance works for the next 10 years," sources said.

Decks for the redevelopment will be cleared next week after the Maharashtra government grants final approval to the notification in this regard.
The sources further said that the tenants will get a 2 BHK tenement of 500 Sqft carpet area.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will have the rights to develop the internal infrastructure like laying of sewerage system, street lighting, they said.

Besides, the tenants will get developed gardens, open spaces, hospitals, fire stations, schools, community halls and internal roads free of cost, the sources added.
Under the new Development Control Rules 33(9)(B), the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) shall act as the special planning authority.

Once the notification is finally approved next week construction work can commence by the end of this year.
The 195 BDD Chawls located at Worli, Naigaon and N M Joshi (Parel) cover an area of 86.98 acre, with the Worli BDD chawls occupying the maximum area of 59.69 acre.
Out of the 195 BDD chawls, the maximum of 121 chawls are in Worli. In all, there are 16203 tenements of which 2901 tenements have been earmarked for police housing.
The plan envisages recovering the cost of tenements for Low Income Group (LIG) from the free sale components for High Income Group (HIG) and Middle Income Group (MIG).

"The Housing department had held a competition for architects for designing the best redevelopment plan. The design plans include construction of tall buildings with 40 plus floor and for the tenants small buildings with 14 to 22 floors," the official said.
The redevelopment of BDD chawl cluster also comprises chawls at Sewri. However, since the chawls at Sewri come under Bombay Port Trust it comes under the Union Government control. Hence the redevelopment plan is awaiting clearance.