A news report in Mumbai Mirror ( 16 June ) reads :
“ 50,000 affordable homes up for sale in Mahul
and Trombay “
It adds :
“ However these have been lying vacant for five years , as PAPs (
Project Affected Persons ) have refused to move into them for various reasons –
issues like,
·
THE HOUSE IS FAR AWAY FROM
THEIR PLACE OF LIVELIHOOD
·
THERE IS LITTLE OR NO RAILWAY AND BEST CONNECTIVITY OR BUS ROUTES
·
NO SCHOOL AND HEALTHCARE
FACILITIES IN THE VICINITY
If we are serious about renewal of our crowded / congested /
crumbling / corroding cities , it is time our Town Planners take a few minutes
to read my following blog ( sent as email to Central ministers and State Chief
Ministers ) :
Thursday, 5 June 2014
An important aspect of urban renewal is to get rid of slums , by
resettling slum-dwellers in better houses
Then convert those vacated slum areas into gardens
But slum-dwellers are unwilling to vacate their huts .
Why ?
Over the past 25 / 30 years , the standard method was to move the
slum-dwellers into some temporary , make-shift transit camps , pending
permanent rehabilitation
But that promised " permanent rehabilitation " never
came !
Those who agreed to get shifted into
those transit camps , continue
to live there for generations - without any hope of ever moving into
multi-story concrete buildings with running water / electricity / toilets
Given this broken promises , who
would agree to shift out ?
Second problem is availability of jobs nearby where they are
forced to move - even if these buildings happen to
be well-built , modern and permanent multi-storied buildings
Who would want to move to a better / permanent house , if it is 30 Km away from a
work-place ?
No one wants to spend 4 hours on the road every day
, commuting to a place of work in dense traffic , riding a crowded bus /
train !
But most slum-dwellers would happily
vacate their slums and move 150 Km away , if ,
* It is a well-built building with all amenities
* It is a permanent home ( - and not a transit facility )
* It is given FREE , on ownership basis
* THERE IS A JOB
WITHIN 1 KM OF THE NEW HOME
This is exactly what China is doing ,
by building ONE brand new Mega City , EVERY 20 DAYS !
And moving 250 million slum-dwellers
into those cities over the next 20 years ( - nearly ONE MILLION people , EVERY MONTH !
)
May be this is what NaMo was thinking
when he dreamt of constructing 100 Mega Cities in next 5 years - at the rate of
ONE city EVERY 18 DAYS
!
OLD CITIES CANNOT " RE-NEW " THEMSELVES
, UNTIL WELL-PLANNED NEW
CITIES ARE BUILT FIRST AND READY TO RECEIVE THOSE OLD CITY SLUM-DWELLERS AND
OFFER THEM JOBS
Only problem :
* Mega City of Dholera ( in Gujarat )
is under construction for over last 3
years and expected to cost , Rs 70,000 Crores
* Central
Government has neither the money needed to construct 100 cities,
nor the administrative / technical
competence for such a project
* Democratic Institutions are un-suited for taking bold / harsh /
controversial decisions - then
bulldoze !
It seems urban renewal will remain a
mirage !
02 July 2017
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
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