Mumbai: The Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board(MBRRB), a Unit of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has called a tender for the appointment of a Construction and Development Agency for the Kamathipura redevelopment project on Thursday June 12th. The tender was called almost after two years of gap since the decision to carry out redevelopment through a cluster scheme was announced.

The appointed developer will receive 5,67,000 square meters of development rights where a housing stock of approximately 4500 new housing units are expected to be constructed as per MHADA.

Kamathipura, situated in the heart of South Mumbai, boasts a unique history spanning 200 years. The area was originally settled by Telugu-speaking migrant laborers from Andhra Pradesh. Their hard work and dedication led to the area becoming popularly known as Kamathi, meaning "working labor." Later, the place also became infamous as redlight area of the city.

The project was first announced by erstwhile Mahavikas Aghadi government the then housing minister Jitendra Awhad, who also visited the site.

As per the MBRRB, the redevelopment of dilapidated cessed and non-cess buildings and plots in lanes numbered 1 to 15 in Kamathipura will be carried out in an integrated manner under Regulation 33(9) of the Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR) 2034.

The Kamathipura land is narrow, making individual building redevelopment impractical. Therefore, MHADA has been tasked with conducting the redevelopment under the cluster redevelopment policy, meaning several buildings will be redeveloped together.

The Kamathipura area is spread across 34 acres in South Mumbai, includes approximately 943 cess buildings in lanes 1 to 15, with around 6625 residential and 1376 non-residential tenants/residents, totaling 8001. There are about 800 landowners in the area. The buildings in this region are approximately 100 years old.

The total net plot area of this region is approximately 73,144.84 square meters. As the plot sizes in this region are generally small and narrow, cluster redevelopment is the most viable solution. This project will provide permanent and rightful homes to 8001 tenants/residents who have been awaiting redevelopment for many years.

Government approval for MHADA to carry out the Kamathipura cluster Redevelopment project was granted in January 2023. Based on this, tenders were invited for the planning of the project and Mahimtura Consultants were appointed. The project blueprint has been developed under the title Kamathipura cluster Redevelopment Project - Urban Village.

The project will also include commercial buildings and recreational grounds Additionally, through this project, 44,000 square meters of land will be made available to MHADA through the selected bidder, resulting in a significant increase in the housing stock.