Mumbai civic body to launch web-based system to streamline redevelopment projects

Residents of ageing buildings near Elphinstone bridge are pushing for self-redevelopment. FILE PIC/SAYYED SAMEER ABEDI

To bring transparency in the process of redevelopment or self-development of Mumbai's old buildings, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is set to start a new web-based programme for applications during redevelopment, and to facilitate interactions between housing societies, developers, consultants, financial institutions, the BMC's own departments, other statutory authorities, and citizens. This will ease the redevelopment process for more than 25,000 eligible buildings across the city.

The portal includes GIS visualisation and AI-based decision support for feasibility assessment of the building's redevelopment. This will make it easier for citizens and cooperative housing societies opting for self-redevelopment, as their dependency on market evaluations can decrease, and they can authenticate their project's feasibility index for redevelopment on the BMC's website itself.

According to information from BMC, the portal will carry "high-level information such as an overview of redevelopment policies and schemes, eligibility criteria for different types of societies and stakeholders, and step-by-step explanations of the redevelopment and self-redevelopment processes in a format that is understandable by non-technical users". It will carry information for housing societies, developers, and service providers.

According to the civic body, the system is set to contribute to transparency by providing public, read-only access to a subset of project information, strictly governed by BMC's policies on confidentiality and privacy. This shall include, at a minimum, the ability for citizens to view high-level information on approved and in-progress redevelopment projects.

Vilas Nagalkar, city-based architect and member of PEATA (Practising Engineers, Architects and Town Planners Association) India, said, "The system will minimise or remove human interactions between officers, developers, and even with residents who are primary stakeholders. This creates a level playing field for gathering permissions and checking feasibility of projects, such as in the case of cluster redevelopment. Earlier, there was a need to physically push projects and files, and check for ways to maintain or manoeuvre feasibility. This now being made digital creates transparency, giving citizens access to the right information and knowledge if they decide to take a call on their redevelopment."