Meet new slum lord of India

But Mukesh Mehta, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MM Consultants has the magic potion to make optimum use of the ‘asset’.

He is the new lord of the slums, and you may hate him for saying slums are an asset.

But Mukesh Mehta, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MM Consultants has the magic potion to make optimum use of the ‘asset’.

He is, in fact, the management consultant for the most prized urban renewal project in the country-the Rs5,600-crore Dharavi redevelopment plan. The project has entered its decisive stage; the Slum Redevelopment Authority (SRA) will announce the Expression Of Interest (EOI) next week.

Mehta's consultancy firm has also bagged Nagpur's slum renewal scheme and a major contract to redevelop shanties in Bangalore. MM Consultants is also negotiating on slum projects in Mulund.

“Slums are not a liability. They are an asset as they have human resources, which can act as engines of economic development,” says Mehta. There are also reports that the GVK consortium, which has bagged the Mumbai airport modernisation contract, is in talks with Mehta to relocate the 65,000 hutments along the Sahar airport to make way for its plans.

The Mehta model is simple-an integrated plan rather than isolated structures.

He wants pockets of slums spread across encroached plots to be concentrated in residential houses in one area of each plot and redevelopment to be taken up on the remaining area, with common primary amenities separating the two areas.

The land owner-usually the state government-will get a premium cost for the sale of the land.

The project bids for slum redevelopment are to be selected through competitive bidding. Schools, colleges and hospitals can bid for the space in exchange for free seats and treatment for the locals.

His firm's 10-year plan for Nagpur slums involves rehabilitating 7.95 lakh slumdwellers in 423 slum pockets, in over 1,39,000 houses.

The state will then have at its disposal 264 acres of land, which it can sell at premium cost for redevelopment. Mehta, who has just returned from the University of California, Berkeley, where his slum-renewal model was widely discussed by researchers, dismisses the contention of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that slum-dwellers cannot adjust to changes in lifestyle.

"They are usually poor people with a high aspiration level. Why shouldn't they have the best in amenities?” he asks.

But is it fair to offer free houses with amenities for those encroaching upon public land, especially after the Supreme Court ruled that they had no right on such lands? India’s leading slum redevelopment expert disagrees.

“Slumdwellers do not get houses for free. Many have paid hard cash (though illegally) for many years, but they still live in abysmal conditions. While the state has failed to offer affordable houses, corrupt officers have aided growth of slums,” he said.

Mehta said in the age of urbanisation, metros like Mumbai would continue to witness migration. “Migrants are necessary for the growth of cities. Our plans envisage allocating 15 per cent of land for transit tenements or night shelters for migrants,” says Mehta.