Pune: Laxmi Nagar will be rehabilitated through a tender. This will be the first project in the city to be rehabilitated through the tender. The Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) had decided to rehabilitate slums on government land in Pune city by inviting tenders. It's getting a response from developers.
The SRA aims to speed up the rehabilitation plan. The SRA was set up by the state government in 2005 to make Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad slum-free. The authority framed rules for the rehabilitation project in 2008.
In 2015, however, the then coalition government decided to reduce the FSI for such projects. As a result, work on rehabilitation projects had come to a standstill.
Changes in the authority's rules were expected after the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition government came to power, but the then orders were issued to allow construction using a new formula for such projects.
As a result, plans in many places were in trouble. In view of this, the authority had sent the revised rules to the state government for approval. The state government gave its final approval in 2022.
Accordingly, the authority has been empowered to rehabilitate the slums by inviting tenders. Using this provision for the first time, the authority had invited tenders for the rehabilitation of two slums in Pune city, Patil Estate and Laxmi Nagar.
The tenders were invited on DBOT (Design, Build, Operate and Transfer) basis. Nilesh Gatne, chief executive officer of the authority, said that the tender for the slum rehabilitation project at Laxmi Nagar in Parvati has been accepted and the developer has also been ordered to start work before the code of conduct.
Work expected to pick up pace
There are 486 slums in Pune city and 71 in Pimpri-Chinchwad city. The two cities together have a population of more than one million slum dwellers. In the last 15 years, only 8,343 slum dwellers have been rehabilitated.
Considering the total number of slum dwellers, only four per cent of the slum dwellers have been rehabilitated so far. It is expected that the tender process under the revised rules will now speed up the rehabilitation work.
Total huts 450
The land in Laxmi Nagar is about two acres and there are 450 huts. The land belongs to MHADA. In the first phase, the authority had floated a tender for rehabilitation of slums on both the site as well as Patil Estate. The authority has approved the tender in Laxmi Nagar and given the rehabilitation work.