Transforming An Indian Shantytown Into A Middle Class Neighborhood

"Mehta has created a seven-year, $2.1 billion plan to turn Bombay's Dharavi neighborhood -- Asia's largest slum of 600,000 people -- into a middle-class area that some experts say could become a model for slum redevelopment in other Indian cities."

Mehta hopes to raze Dharavi's existing ramshackle homes and shops and replace them with a new town complete with modern apartment buildings, parks, schools, markets, clinics, industrial parks, and even a cricket museum and an arts center.

" 'What is unique about this plan is its attempt to provide new, on-site housing for such a large number of families,' said Vinit Mukhija, assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA."

"Iqbal Chahal, the state official overseeing the massive project, said Dharavi's 535-acre marshland will be transformed mainly by private developers. In exchange for land, they will be required to build 225-square-foot apartments for families. Profits will come later by selling additional apartments at market rates. Until the new homes are complete, slum dwellers will live in free temporary housing."

"But critics call the plan simplistic and suspect its real aim is to appropriate land that has become extremely valuable given the slum's proximity to Bombay's domestic and international airports and a new, emerging business district. Social activists also cite the lack of involvement of slum dwellers in the project."