Dharavi Dreams

The Dream

Different aspects of the country strike people when they visit the United States. When I visited Washington D.C, what struck me was the way many people spent their lunch hour during the week. They enjoyed picnic lunches along the Potomac, some people actually went sailing while others changed into exercise clothes and either jogged, bicycled, skated or roller bladed along the banks of the river. Ahhh…. How I would enjoy spending my lunch hour in surroundings like that!

Here in Mumbai, I pass over the Mithi River everyday on my way to work each morning. As I pass the turnoff towards Bandra Kurla Complex, the contrast strikes me between the swanky new office buildings and the sluggishly flowing nullah behind the buildings. Is it truly so impossible to convert the Mithi River into a smoothly flowing river, providing soul sustenance to the people working in BKC? The idea refused to go away ….

Current Reality

What is the problem with the Mithi River? Using my trusty old research assistant, Google, I came across a survey report on the subject, dated July 2004. Note that this survey was carried out a whole year before the famous flooding of Mumbai in July 2005. The survey, conducted in May 2004 by Klean Environmental Consultants Pvt. Ltd, monitored the pollution levels in the river at 20 points, across Saki Naka, Safed Pool, around Santacruz airstrip, Jarimari, Bail Bazar, old airport road, Kalina (CST road), Vakola, Bandra Kurla complex, Dharavi and Mahim creek. I used the findings of this survey to start dreaming about how to transform the Mithi into the Potomac.

As per this report, the pollutants of the Mithi river include domestic sewage; industrial waste from both authorized and unauthorized industries; animal waste from the cowsheds and dairies in the area; garbage waste and industrial sludge and residues discarded by recyclers

A more recent phenomenon (not covered in the report) is that of using the river banks and mangroves near the river to dump construction waste (rubble).

The report makes a set of recommendations which includes provision of sewerage and garbage collection systems, stopping unauthorized industries, dredging the river bed and setting up sewage treatment plants. There is only one problem with these recommendations – it is a cost intensive and capital intensive model. What we require is a scheme to make the model financially, and politically, self-sustaining.

To arrive at such a model, my first step was to take a realistic look at what prevents the recommendations of the report (and many others like it) from being implemented in totality and in spirit. The most significant aspect is that the most polluted stretches of the river are also the most heavily populated by people who are financially and literacy challenged. The river is hemmed in by slums on both sides for a goodly portion of its length. These contribute domestic and industrial waste from both authorized and unauthorized industries. Taking a hard stance against these slum dwellers would be political suicide for any corporator or local politician. We need to recognize these as ground realities and work with them, rather than against them.

If there was some way to rid the riverbanks of the slums, that would most likely take care of the bulk of the pollutants flowing into the river. But the slum dwellers would resist as they stand to lose their homes, and in many cases, their livelihood through such a move. A win-win solution needs to be found.

Comprehensive Approach

One solution is to use the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme that is already under implementation in various parts of the city. To safeguard the dream, the terms of the contract would need to include protection of the river and the mangroves around the river as a condition to winning the development contract. This would best be achieved by including one or more recognized environment protection groups in the preparation of the tender document itself.

A comprehensive feasibility study would need to be carried out for the project. In the interests of economic viability and a consistent developmental approach, all the slums along the entire length of the river would need to be awarded to a single agency or a consortium of agencies. This would also give the developer the opportunity to avail global FSI benefits and therefore give him more flexibility in layout planning and design. The alternative would be to create a single multi-disciplinary body to approve all layouts and designs. This however is likely to lead to coordination problems and project delays, and is a suboptimal approach.

A single town planning agency would need to draw up the plans for the riverfront development. Since riverfront developments would constitute prime property once the river was cleaned up, this would necessitate all slum rehabilitations to take place away from the riverfront. The new development would need to allow for some industrial centers (including recycling units) to be created away from the riverfront. This would need to be preceded by establishing high capacity domestic and industrial sewage treatment facilities surrounded by industrial units.

Solid waste management is a highly studied topic these days. Every attempt would need to be made to deploy less energy intensive and organically friendly methods of waste disposal, including vermiculture and weaving recycled plastic bags into saleable items. These, along with small scale industries such as mushroom farming, can lead to not only livelihood generation for the resettled slum dwellers, but also lead to a renewed sense of community belonging as self-help groups come together for economic reasons.

Once the needs of the current occupants of the land are addressed, the developers can look to commercial development of the rest of the land as per the recommendations of the town planning agency. This would include not only commercial and residential buildings, but also public gathering places such as parks, nature trails and nature parks, restaurants, party and marriage venues and waterfront activities such as punting and kayaking (non-motorised activities to preserve the peace and birdlife in the mangroves). Dredging the riverbed and controlling the hyacinths would be a necessity to support the riverfront activities and preserve the beauty. With the major polluting agents having been removed, the frequency of dredging and cleansing would be reduced. The natural drainage system of the city will also be restored adequately to cater to a fair amount of rain runoff, making the Mumbai flooding a never to be repeated nightmare.

With carefully selected fish, known for their ability to cleanse the river of effluents and mosquito larvae, this frequent cleaning can be still further reduced. The river life can itself be a tourist attraction and a subject of study. In the right season, bird watching expeditions can be created both for nature lovers and for casual tourists. The nearby Mahim nature park has already created precedence on this front. Imagination is the only limitation to revenue generation schemes once you have a waterfront on which to base it. And the commercial activities themselves provide employment and income generation opportunities for the erstwhile slum dwellers of the region, thereby giving them a vested interest in the success and early completion of the project.

Dharavi as Part to Whole

The Dharavi slum rehabilitation has been initiated, at least on paper. It is intended to free up valuable real estate in Dharavi, as well as enhance the surroundings, and hence, value of the land in Bandra Kurla complex. Once this is completed, the next eyesore on the horizon will be the rest of the slums on the banks of the Mithi River – notably the Kurla-Kalina area. The Dharavi slum is a continuation of the slums on the banks of the Mithi river. It appears that the Dharavi slums are about half the size of the total slum area along the banks of the river. A comprehensive town planning approach would be beneficial to both Dharavi dwellers, as well as people living in the other areas along the banks of the river.

Currently, the figures being bandied about speak of 535 acres that comprise Dharavi, of which about 60% would be developed. The publicized cost figures of developing Dharavi alone, is about Rs 10,000 crores (~Rs 18-19 crore per acre). By adopting a holistic approach to the entire region, designing infrastructure (specifically water, power, waste water and solid waste management) for the larger slum area (~1000 acres) and developing special zones to re-house various industries (availing economies of scale for special effluent and waste treatment), common sense would indicate that the total cost to completion for the entire region, would be lower if a comprehensive approach is adopted. Thus, there is both a town planning effectiveness argument, as well as an economic argument, for undertaking the planning and designing of the area in its entirety.

The execution would need to be phased out of necessity. Planning the phases would itself be a challenge. The obvious way to phase the project, i.e. on a geographical basis, may not be the most effective and efficient. It may be more efficient to create one of the special industrial areas first, move all industries of that category (from the entire region) into the special zone, and then progress in similar fashion till the entire region is transformed. Creation of temporary structures, for temporarily housing people and / or industries (or for warehousing) may also be required, for demolition / demobilization in the final phase. To plan the phases appropriately, it is important to undertake all initial set-up tasks (such as census taking and winning agreement for rehabilitation from current residents) for the entire region right at the planning (and financial modeling) stage.

Exhibit: Rough Calculations

Dharavi	535	acres
Total area (estimate)	1000	acres	43,560,000	sq feet
% For rehabilitation		60%	26,136,000	sq feet
% for commercial exploitation		20%	8,712,000	sq feet
FSI		4	3	2
Built up area for commercial exploitation		34,848,000	26,136,000	17,424,000	sq feet
Sq ft rate in Bandra Kurla Complex		45,000	45,000	45,000
Potential commercial value of built up area @75% of BKC rates		117,612	88,209	58,806	crores

Key challenge

The main challenge in developing this model redevelopment scheme would arise essentially in matching upfront costs with one-time revenues (such as those arising from sale of land) and recurring costs with recurring revenues. Proper cash flow management is the key to the success of this model. Once the appropriate balance is achieved, one can trust to market forces themselves to ensure this model becomes successful and replicated through the smaller nullahs of Mumbai.

The ideas are there, the professional skills are available. What we need is a large enough vision and the willingness to undertake initiatives that will be years in planning and execution. Let us show the world, that we are capable of being visionary and have the endurance to execute large visions

Reference Acknowledgement to:

Survey Report on Mithi River Pollution and Recommendations to Control Pollution - Klean Environmental Consultants Pvt. Ltd - Ref.No.0407/MPCB Mithi River Survey/ 109

About the author

Ajita has been working in various parts of Mumbai for the last 21 years and dreaming about making it a model city designed around Mumbai economics and ethos rather than any foreign city. This article has been written in her personal capacity and does not represent the views of her employers.