Mumbai's Bhendi Bazaar is set for a nice makeover

04 January, 2013

In an ambitious project, the Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment project in Mumbai, will seek to re-organize a crowded residential-cum-commercial area so as to offer improved business environment, housing, wider roads, and more open space. The project has already begun with the demolition of two buildings last Monday.

WITH THE increase in the population figures in the country, and the expected increase in the future along with the expected pressure to be built upon the existing cities and towns through migration of people from villages to cities - it is time for the policy makers to come out with good doable policies in this regard.

The first and foremost would be to take a good look at all the congested parts of any city or town along with the number of people dwelling there and the type of houses they are living in alongwith commercial buildings and commercial business houses located in the same area.

With proper planning all these should be changed for the better because the pressure is only going to increase in the future.

In this context, it is good to see that a congested and very popular locality in India located in south Mumbai known as Bhendi Bazaar has received the exact kind of attention needed and could prove to be a trendsetter for many similar bazaars and colonies located in different parts of the country for re-development.

The Bhendi Bazaar project was conceived by the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT). More than 3,500 families will be moved into 350 sq.ft. apartments - and will shift from their small and shoddy flats. Space will be created for 1,200 businesses, and about one-sixth of Bhendi Bazaar's 16.5 acre will be planned as an open space for recreational purpose.

The Rs. 2,900 crore project, work for which began in 2009, may become a blueprint for cluster re-development across the city, and for similar areas in India. and provide an ideal for how high-rises must not only aim at accomodating more and more people, but also help create more space on the ground.

Let's hope everything goes smoothly for the above mentioned ambitious project of Mumbai. Upon completion, this could be taken as proof for re-developing many more colonies in the future in different parts of the country. If a proper survey is one, there could be thousands of such colonies, which would need re-development on an urgent basis.