City’s biggest slum redevpt plan gets going 7,000Cr Housing Project To Rise On 17 Acres In Parel

Mumbai: The largest slum redevelopment scheme in Mumbai—and possibly in India—is underway in the island city. Omkar Realty and Developers Pvt Ltd has tied up with Larsen and Toubro Realty, a subsidiary of L&T, to develop a Rs 7,000 croreplus residential project spread over a 17-acre slum sprawl in Bhoiwada, Parel.      L&T, which is the majority partner, will design, construct and market the highend luxury apartments with Omkar. The project will have 1,200 apartments spread over 3 million square feet in six towers, each 40-60 floors tall. Flats in this area are currently quoted at approximately Rs 15,000 a sq ft.      Omkar, which bagged the slum project, will rehabilitate slum dwellers residing in about 4,000 shanties free of cost in 269 sq ft (carpet area) flats in nine to ten buildings of 23 floors. With a floor space index of over 3 available in slum schemes, the plot has a developable space of over 5 million sq ft.      Under the slum redevelopment scheme, a developer can use the balance area to construct buildings to sell in the open market.  OLD TURNS GOLD  Joint venture project signed between L&T Realty and Omkar to develop 40-60-storied towers in Bhoiwada  4,000 shanties to be redeveloped FSI of 3 available 5m sqf developable space Work on 23-storey rehab bldgs started in 2011 Plot of gold: 1mn sq ft for rehab, rest for free sale  Mumbai: S D Corporation, a joint venture company of hotelier Dilip Thakkar and construction major Shapoorji Pallonji, had eight years ago undertaken a slum scheme spread across 13 acres. The developer has constructed two 60-storey luxury towers, The Imperial, from the free sale component.      In the Bhoiwada project, one million sq ft will be used for rehabilitation while the balance will be used for free sale by the two companies.      Babulal Varma, managing director of Omkar, confirmed the joint venture but refused to elaborate on the revenue sharing agreement. Shrikant Varma, managing director of L&T Realty, refused to comment on the first ventureby thecompany in theMumbai property market. The JV was signed recently after almost a year of negotiations.      Sources close to the development say L&T has invested around Rs 500 crore in the Parel project. Incidentally, L&T is also the contractor appointed by Omkar to construct slum rehab buildings at Bhoiwada. The construction agreement worth Rs 174 crore was signed in 2011. The construction major, for the first time, is using pre-cast technology normally used for groundplus-three-level structures to construct high-rise buildings of 23 floors.      Omkar has bagged rights to redevelop 10,000 hutments spread across 20 acres in Malad. The company has raised a debt of about Rs 2,000 crore to finance construction of almost 5.5 million sq ft at its Worli and Malad project. WORK IN PROGRESS