Mumbai’s redevelopment story is increasingly moving beyond replacing ageing structures with new buildings. In Goregaon’s Motilal Nagar, MHADA is pursuing a large-scale cluster redevelopment model aimed at creating a more integrated neighbourhood with improved housing, infrastructure and community amenities.
Spread across nearly 143 acre and involving an estimated investment of Rs 1 lakh crore, Motilal Nagar 1, 2 and 3 are being planned as a unified development. More than 5,600 residential and non-residential occupiers are expected to receive rehabilitation, while the project will also address roads, drainage, water supply, open spaces and social infrastructure.
Sanjeev Jaiswal, Vice President and CEO, MHADA, underlined the broader objective: “Giving a house is something else, but giving a house in a liveable community is something beyond the responsibility of the government,” he says.
Unlike conventional redevelopment focused on individual buildings, the cluster model considers the entire neighbourhood as one urban system. “Typically, till now, if I were to speak about Mumbai and MHADA in terms of redevelopment, the focus was entirely on individual building redevelopment,” says Jaiswal. “For the first time, the government felt that while this peaceful approach of redevelopment ensures rehab, it does not lead to the feeling of a livelihood or an improvement in the lifestyle of the people who are going to finally settle there.”
MHADA has appointed Estatevue Developers Private Limited (EDPL), an Adani Group company, as the Construction & Development Agency. The plan incorporates internal roads, sewerage, stormwater drainage, rainwater harvesting, lighting and green infrastructure. “When you go in for cluster redevelopment, it is not only the houses or buildings you make,” says Jaiswal. “You take care of the overall amenities, the road infrastructure, sewerage, stormwater drainage, rainwater harvesting, the lighting out there, promoting other measures in the sense of a green environment.”
The master plan proposes around 17.5 acre of recreational and open spaces, along with schools, hospitals, daycare centres, anganwadis, markets, community halls, senior-citizen facilities, playgrounds and gardens. The layout also follows a 15-minute city approach, bringing daily necessities closer to residents.
“It is going to be a city within a city,” Jaiswal says.
The project is also expected to address monsoon waterlogging, strengthen sewerage and water systems and introduce a sewage treatment plant. According to Jaiswal, the objective is to improve “quality of life and also maybe indirectly on the livelihood means of the people residing there”.
On ownership, Jaiswal says, “The ownership and the responsibility of the redevelopment remains with MHADA,” while the private agency serves as the execution partner. He adds, “The fear of the developer should be secondary.”
MHADA has identified around 15 cluster projects under the C&DA model, covering approximately 920 acre and potentially benefiting around 65,000 families/tenements. The larger objective is to shift Mumbai’s redevelopment approach from isolated buildings to complete urban environments.
Ultimately, Motilal Nagar’s success will be judged not only by new homes and infrastructure, but by whether residents regain a sense of community and experience a genuinely better quality of life.
Source: Construction World
