The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority’s (Mhada) plan to redevelop the 128-acre Motilal Nagar in Goregaon will generate 40,000 affordable houses, which will be distributed through a lottery. Apart from rehousing 3,628 existing residents in 1,200-sqft new houses, the Rs. 30,000-crore project will include a women’s hostel, a children’s home and two small hospitals.
Motilal Nagar was built in 1960 to house the poor. In the past few years, several builders offered redevelopment proposals to the residents, but subsequently withdrew them owing to the slowdown in the
market.
Mhada has appointed eminent architect PK Das to prepare a roadmap for the project. Das is expected to give his report by the end of August, after which tenders will be floated. The work is likely to begin in October.
Madhu Chavan, chairman of the Mumbai board of Mhada, said this project is one of the largest revamp projects undertaken by the housing body. “We plan to make Motilal Nagar a micro city, equipped with all modern amenities. A stock of 40,000 will ease the housing shortage in the city,” said Chavan.
Residents’ associations of Motilal Nagar have welcomed the plan, but want Mhada to redress their grievances. “Mhada has shown us the presentation, but we have some queries. We want the authorities to take us into confidence,” said Yuvraj Mohite, president, Motilal Nagar Vikas Samiti.
As the plot has a lot of open spaces, construction of new buildings can begin at the earliest.
Moreover, existing residents will not have to leave their old homes during the construction period and can be directly shifted to the new homes.
Currently, Mhada has hardly any vacant land in its kitty to construct low-cost houses.
Liases Foras, a real estate research firm, said Mhada is the best choice, as private builders are not capable of undertaking of such a huge project.
“There is a massive slowdown in the realty market and private builders are in bad shape. Being a government agency, Mhada will also get approvals easily,” said Pankaj Kapoor, CEO, Liases Foras.
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