The state government is planning to take up the reconstruction of the Government Colony in Bandra (East). Spread over a 100-acre plot, it is more than twice the size of the business district of Nariman Point.
The project is estimated to cost over Rs 2,000 crore, said a senior PWD official. Families of 4,906 government employees presently occupy the quarters that had been built on partially marshy land. An additional 1,000 quarters will be created after the redevelopment. The existing 250-odd ground-plus-three-floor residential quarters in the shaded enclaves of the colony will be pulled down and replaced by 12-storey structures.
Plans for the massive redevelopment project are being chalked out by the state governments Public Works Department (PWD). The plan proposes the creation of a helipad atop one of the towers. The PWD will also construct a super-specialty government hospital as well as an 8-lakh sq ft administrative building that will be as large as the Mantralaya. There would also be a community hall, a swanky club house and a shopping arcade.
The buildings here were constructed in the sixties. During the 2005 Mumbai floods, the area was badly affected as the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) and other areas that were developed later are on a much higher plane than the colony, said Bipin Sankhe, chief architect for the state, who has designed the redevelopment plans.
Situated along the Western Express Highway in close proximity to the commercial hub of BKC, developers have for long been vying for the plot. In April this year, the Government Quarters Residents Association had submitted a proposal for redevelopment, a plan wherein they had asked for permanent homes for all families staying in the quarters. It was shot down by the state government which later decided to take up the redevelopment through the Public-Private Participation model.
According to PWD officials, the private developer who clinches the redevelopment bid will be allowed to commercially exploit part of the land that will be given on a 99-year lease. The proposal will be soon submitted to the infrastructure sub-committee of the state cabinet for its approval.