Slums As The Next Hot Real Estate Market?

"Architect Mukesh Mehta has a bold, some say foolhardy, scheme for clearing Asia's biggest slum: sell it.

...By selling off the valuable land the slum dwellers occupy, he hopes to transform Dharavi into an orderly complex of apartment blocks, factories and sports facilities where rich and poor live side by side in harmony.

If his vision comes true, it will boast a new cricket field, five major new roads, a modern hospital, new schools, a nature park, even a driving range for golfers.

Late last month, the state government placed advertisements in 20 countries inviting developers to grab "the opportunity of the millennium" by bidding on the right to transform the slum. Mr. Mehta says more than 40 developers from around the world have expressed interest.

For the chance to develop a valuable location in Mumbai's heart, the winning bidder will be obliged to clear the area of slum dwellings and rehouse 57,000 families free of charge in new apartment blocks.

To entice developers, the state government has eased the conditions for building in the area, granting them more space for new buildings and allowing them to proceed if 60 per cent of the slum-dwellers agree, compared with the previous 70 per cent.

In return, the developers will have to provide all the new infrastructure usually built by government, including roads, drainage, hospitals, parks and municipal offices - in effect creating a whole new ready-built community.

If it succeeds, though, Mr. Mehta believes it could be a blueprint for helping slum dwellers not just in India, but around the globe.

'If I can make Bombay slum-free, I can make any city in India slum free. And if I can do that, we can make any city in the world slum-free,' he said."