Mumbai: Work on redevelopment of Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar and Kamraj Nagar in Ghatkopar will commence on Tuesday, nearly two years after the state government appointed the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to redevelop the slum settlements. The chief minister and both deputy chief ministers are likely to attend the ground-breaking ceremony, to be held on Tuesday evening, officials aware of the matter told Hindustan Times.
“We floated a tender for the redevelopment project in May and appointed a contractor to erect rehabilitation buildings. With the monsoon now over, groundwork for the project will begin,” an MMRDA official told HT.
The ground-breaking ceremony comes barely three months ahead of the civic polls scheduled in January 2026, reminiscent of the distribution of rental cheques to project-affected slum dwellers months ahead of the assembly elections in November 2024.
The project, which involves rehabilitation of 17,000 slum tenements spread across 31.82 hectares next to the Eastern Express Highway, is the first slum redevelopment project being executed jointly by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) and a government agency.
In May, the MMRDA secured a ₹1,500 crore loan from Bank of Maharashtra for the first phase of the project, involving the construction of 4,345 rehabilitation units with 300 square feet carpet area each, across 12 residential towers. Every tower, measuring 70 metres, will have amenities like elevators that can accommodate stretchers, anganwadis, libraries, youth centres and gymnasiums.
The MMRDA floated a tender for the first phase of the project in May, and subsequently appointed BG Shirke to execute it at a cost of ₹1,299 crore. Work on the project will progress incrementally, said officials.
“We will first clear some hutments, construct towers in their place and hand them over to eligible residents, and only then move on to clear another set of hutments,” the MMRDA official quoted earlier said.
The first phase of the redevelopment project will be completed in three years and the second and final phase will begin after that, officials said.
The project will also clear the decks for extension of the Eastern Freeway till Thane. The freeway was originally supposed to merge with the Eastern Express Highway near Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar, but was short-terminated at Shivaji Nagar in Govandi due to lack of political will and displacement of slum dwellers.
In September 2023, the state housing department permitted the SRA to enter into joint ventures with other government agencies, including the MMRDA, to kickstart long-pending slum redevelopment projects. In December 2023, the MMRDA approved the rehabilitation of Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar and Kamraj Nagar, and declared itself as the developer. In February 2024, it signed a joint venture agreement with the SRA to implement the project, which was approved by the housing department in July 2024.