[Jai]

This is big news, as Reliance is the company set to create the MahaMumbai SEZ, a planned city that will rival Mumbai and New Mumbai in size, and is planned to have a skyscraper-laden CBD.

REL wants to turn slums to skyscrapers

HT Epaper 21 APR 07
Madhurima Nandy
Mumbai


RELIANCE ENERGY Limited (REL), part of the ADAG group and one of India’s biggest conglomerates, is now planning to get into the slum rehabilitation business.

The company, which inherited tracts of land in Mumbai’s suburbs when it took over Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES), is proposing to develop these plots, all of which have been encroached upon.

An REL spokesperson from Delhi confirmed that the company is looking at ways to rehouse encroachers. “We have some land that is illegally occupied. We want to provide these encroachers with alternative accommodation... we also need land to build receiving stations,” he said.

The spokesperson did not have details of the size or locations of the plots owned by the company.

Like a typical slum rehab scheme, REL, which owns these plots, would rehouse slumdwellers and in return, get a vast sprawl of land to construct buildings to be sold at market rates.

Speaking to HT, D.S. Malwankar, joint director and finance controller of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), said the corporate house had appointed architect Shrimati Deodhar to draw up the plans.

“REL is seeking clarifications on different slum rehab schemes and their architect has been meeting SRA officials in this regard,” he said. “They are yet to submit their project proposal.” Senior SRA officials, meanwhile, said REL is contemplating building residential towers that would be sold on the open market.

They also said it would not be difficult for REL to get its plans sanctioned by the SRA, since the land is owned by the company.