Thursday 12 September 2013

26 towers to house city slum dwellers

Mumbai: The Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) has cleared 26 skyscrapers with 23 floors each to house slum dwellers in Malad, Worli and Bhoiwada, Parel. About 6,600 slum families, comprising around 25,000 people, will be relocated to these towers from their original shanty land. Each family will get a free 269 sq ft (carpet) flat, but will have to be trained to use the lift, bathrooms and other amenities. Housing experts have dubbed it a “sophisticated displacement plan and a highly unsustainable urban development model that will lead to further slumification of the city”.  Publication: The Times Of India Mumbai; Date: Aug 17, 2013; Section: Front Nauzer K Bharucha TNN


SPARC believes that multi – storied buildings inevitably leads to higher maintenance cost that eventually the poor have to bear, for example, high rise buildings require the use of lifts which increases the electric cost; structural maintenance is higher for high rises in comparison to G+2 structures.  In addition, social interaction is challenged as the slum dwellers are interdependent within their community, but with shifting into high rises, the community structure is disrupted.

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