Housing Scale-Up: More Homes But A Less Livable Mumbai

Mumbai is undergoing a massive scale up of its housing sector housing including for its 41% slum dweller population. This includes over 910 buildings undergoing redevelopment that could add up 44,277 new homes by 2030, as per real estate analyst Knight Frank report. About 809 high rises (above 40 floors) have been approved in the city that currently has about 252 skyscrapers and another 416 under construction as per a Bombay High Court appointed expert committee on high risers. Besides these, about 541 acres of land is being used for rehousing Dharavi residents including 124 acres of the Deonar dumping ground and 254 acres of salt pan land, that essentially helps prevent flooding by sponging water. A recent report found about 6021.50 acres of land in Mumbai, almost 17.71% of its total habitable land, belonging to the state and central government, being unlocked for development. This includes about 2,068.59 acres being used for rehousing slum dwellers under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme. Experts though are far from convinced about this model of development. “Mumbai’s development is entirely unplanned and piecemeal, lacking coordinated growth in roads, water supply, and sewerage systems. It is not supported by essential social infrastructure like schools, hospitals, parks, playgrounds, or even trees, and therefore does little to make the city more liveable,” notes architect and urban planner Alan Abraham. “Instead, it risks creating a saturated, overbuilt Mumbai that will ultimately be unsustainable,” he adds.