Dharavi Redevelopment Project CEO Project SVR Srinivas said it will be a challenging project
All efforts will be made to complete the survey in Mumbai's Dharavi in eight months, barring the monsoon months, so that the project can start, the chief executive of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project SVR Srinivas told NDTV today.
The project is a joint venture between the Maharashtra government and the Adani Group. The survey's data of informal tenement residents will be used by the state government to determine their rehabilitation eligibility criteria under the project.
The survey will also create 'Digital Dharavi' - an advanced library of one of the world's largest informal settlement.
"The Dharavi Redevelopment Project is a big milestone. Barring the rainy season, efforts will be made to complete the survey within eight months," Mr Srinivas said.
The survey will digitise documents and will cover not only houses, but also shops, schools, temples, mosques, etc.
"A socio-economic survey will also be carried out in Dharavi. Residents must show Aadhaar, voter identity card, or at least a driving licence. But no one will be left out. Everyone will get a house," Mr Srinivas told NDTV.
He said it is for the first time in India that tenants living on floors other than the ground floor will be given houses on a hire-purchase basis under the Dharavi Redevelopment Project.
"Houses will be available for rent, apart from purchase. The price will be decided by the government," the Dharavi Redevelopment Project CEO said.
"The government, not any private agency, is carrying out the survey. Those who want to ask anything should approach the government," he said.
The project is being billed as the world's largest urban renewal project. The project is a big and first step towards a slum-free Mumbai. The CEO said both the state and the Centre are cooperating well on the project.
"The Prime Minister is also working on a plan to provide subsidy by implementing the affordable rental housing scheme," Mr Srinivas said.
The socio-economic survey will help in skill development and training people who have been living in Dharavi, he said.
All industrial and commercial units in Dharavi will be exempted from the state goods and services tax (SGST) for five years, Mr Srinivas said, adding such an initiative is being taken in a project to redevelop an informal tenement area in the country for the first time.
The Dharavi Redevelopment Project would be the most challenging Mumbai has seen, far more complex than the Mumbai Metro and the harbour link.
"There are construction and planning challenges. Then there are demographic and people-oriented challenges," Mr Srinivas said. "This is a global-level project. I have neither done a project more difficult than this nor do I think I will again. This is going to be quite challenging. We will also use social media to ensure the correct information about the project reaches people," he said.
(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)