US company willing to invest Rs 70,000 crore. All eyes are now on what decision the State Government takes.
By Pankaj Pethe
@the_news_21
Mumbai: There are signs that the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) project in Colaba, which has been pending for the last several years, will soon see signs of revival. The US-based developer Trinity White City Ventures (TWCV) has decided to invested Rs 70,000 crore to build world-class buildings in the area.
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar and Shri Ganeshmurti Nagar Cuff Parade Backbay Reclamation has been handed over LOI (letter of intent) of SRA Housing Society. However, what decision do Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray as well as the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) and the Housing Department take is keenly watched now.
According to further information, 7,000 families are currently living in slums in Colaba. Rehabilitation of these 7,000 slums has been stalled for many years. About three to four years ago, a big developer was accused of cheating the local slum dwellers by producing fake documents. Distancing themselves away from the developer, the local slum dweller set up a housing society and began efforts to get a letter of intent from the SRA.
Meanwhile, several developers came forward to rehabilitate the slums in Colaba. At a recent special general meeting of the organization in Churchgate to decide on this, Trinity White City Ventures in the United States announced that it would invest as much as Rs 70,000 crore in the presence of thousands of slum dwellers. The letter of intent was handed over by the developer to Vinayak Vengurlekar, the chief consultant of the organization.
When the BJP government was in power, the issue of rehabilitation of Colaba slums was raised. There are 7,000 slums in this division. Out of which 5,000 eligible slum dwellers are living in this place. However, no final decision was taken during the previous BJP government. But now, the slum dwellers are expressing hope that the rehabilitation project will be completed during the Thackeray government tenure.
Slum holders became aggressive
Despite repeated requests to the government from rehabilitate the Colaba slums, no decision was being taken so far. The special general meeting of Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar and Shri Ganeshmurti Nagar SRA Housing Society was held at Churchgate. main promoter Prakash Ghadge, Shri Galwa, Director of Trinity White City Venture, Miglani Industrialist, Vijay Thackeray Aviraj Group, Sambhaji Desai Entrepreneur Kolhapur, Sharad Gavkar, promoter Prashant Ghadge and others were present. At the meeting, Trinity’s director announced the rehabilitation project, which was approved by thousands of local slum dwellers.
