Is India’s biggest ever urban redevelopment too good to be true?

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A plan to transform Mumbai’s dilapidated Bhendi Bazaar district will also rehouse 3,200 families for free. So what’s the catch?

Main image: A render of one of the glitzy shopping areas promised by the Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment. Photograph: Courtesy: SBUT
▼ Farooq Patel has lived his entire life in Bhendi Bazaar in a tiny two-room apartment with no toilet that he inherited from his family. Soon, the 52-year-old embroidery worker will get a bigger, brand-new home with modern-day comforts such as air conditioning and induction burners. For free.
Patel’s rented apartment is in one of southern Mumbai’s busiest market areas. A plan to rehouse all 3,200 families and 1,250 shops present in the district is part of what is touted as India’s largest ever urban redevelopment project.
The plan involves razing 250 mostly dilapidated medium-rise housing structures and building 17 high-rise towers in their place. Thirteen will house existing commercial and residential tenants, who will be given ownership of their new apartments. The remaining four towers will be sold on the market to recoup costs. The project boasts that it will add greenery, wide roads, pavements, public spaces and glitzy shopping options to the local area.



Bhendi Bazaar before the development (top) and how it is projected to look afterwards. The project will raze 250 mostly dilapidated medium-rise housing structures and build 17 high-rise towers in their place. Images: Courtesy of SBUT
Patel’s future home will be in one of these gleaming skyscrapers. “Our next generation deserves better living conditions,” says Patel, who shares his minuscule flat with his wife and his teenage son.
We can’t live like this much longer. We are in the 21st century
Quresh Mithaiwala
This 125-year-old market district is a holdover from colonial days. Originally built to accommodate male migrant labourers working in the city’s harbour, more recently it has attracted low-income families, drawn by state-controlled rents that have been frozen for years.
Unable to afford anything else, they have stayed put, passing their tiny apartments down from generation to generation. As a result, landlords have been reluctant to spend money on maintenance, and the area has turned into one of the many slum-like settlements that can be found across this growing metropolis of 20 million. During flooding last August, the collapseof a century-old four-storey apartment block killed at least 34 people, including a 20-day-old girl.
“We can’t live like this much longer,” says Quresh Mithaiwala, owner of a sweetmeat shop in the bustling neighbourhood. He thinks the revamp will be beneficial for retailers like him. “We are in the 21st century. Modernising will give us a great boost.” (▪ ▪ ▪)

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