Mumbai’s ‘last big’ hope lies in dock

MUMBAI — It was a trip few residents had made before — to a smelly dock on murky waters in the city’s southern tip, to see colorful art installations inspired by the fishing community, the city’s original residents.

The Sassoon Dock Art Project, which ran until the end of December, gave many Mumbai residents their first excuse to walk through one of the city’s oldest docks, an area set for a massive overhaul under a plan to redevelop the docklands.

Mumbai’s most valuable piece of land, the docklands sprawl across 752 hectares, about one eighth of the island city.

They are located along a 14-kilometer stretch along the waterfront, dotted with defunct warehouses, jetties and slums.

The proposed redevelopment of the land, owned by the government-run Mumbai Port Trust, is the biggest opening up of land in the city since the redevelopment of about 240 hectares of textile-mill land in the heart of Mumbai in the 1990s.

That redevelopment was meant to create equal quantities of open spaces, public housing and commercial real estate.

Instead, it drove tens of thousands of mill workers from their homes, as planners prioritized offices, bars, malls and multistoreyed parking, according to campaigners who fought for their rehabilitation.

Two decades on, the docklands redevelopment offers perhaps the last chance for a more sustainable and inclusive future for residents in the space-starved city, home to some of the priciest real estate in the world, experts say.

“It is absolutely essential that we get it right this time — this is the last big chance to seriously tackle the challenges that Mumbai faces,” said Bimal Patel, urban planner and president of CEPT University in Ahmedabad.

While the plan has not been made public, it has sparked a debate among architects and planners who have seen it.

They say the plan demarcates 30 percent of land for open spaces, 30 percent for transport and infrastructure, and the remainder for mixeduse developments — businesses, offices and homes, including for those displaced by the redevelopment.

Alongside, the government must also provide alternate opportunities for those who depend on the docklands for a living, said Neera Adarkar, an urban planner in Mumbai.

“That entire belt provided livelihoods to people for more than two centuries — not just fishing, but also manufacturing,” said Adarkar, who was involved in the rehabilitation of the city’s mill workers.

“The needs and aspirations of the city are very different from those of the market, and it’s very important that the government address the concerns of the people,” she said.