Coming: High income group homes in BKC

The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has designed a luxurious housing project situated at the heart of Bandra Kurla Complex. The authority is planning to redevelop the Bharat Nagar transit camp and construct 280 luxurious flats at the prime location.

This will lead to rehabilitating the weaker section, which is residing at the transit camp for years, to a different location and construct the houses that will be exclusively for the Higher Income Group section. The project is being criticised by activists since the housing body 's primary aim is to provide affordable housing to the Economically Weaker Section and Lower Income Group.

However, the housing body reacted to this by saying that they continue to construct affordable housing for the weaker section and the HIG houses are to recover loses that they suffer from building EWS and LIG projects. A senior official said, "The BKC is a prime plot and our focus of constructing affordable housing has not deviated. We have been building HIG and MIG homes prior to this. We need to construct luxurious houses in order to be in a position to fund affordable housing projects."

Another official added that there are some of the biggest projects for the weaker section that are being planned and will be readied in the future. He said, "The redevelopment of old chawls are some of these projects which will create massive housing stocks and will then used to create affordable housing for the weaker section at prime locations."

The houses will be of 1000 square feet each and will be priced at the market rates. Moreover, the authority has planned to construct two high rises. The official, however, did not reveal the exact Floor Space Index that will be provided to the developer.

The transit camp is nearly 30 years old and most of the houses are in a dilapidated condition. The move will impact over 700 families that currently reside at the transit camp. In all, there are 34 buildings at the camp.