Residents of a slum in north Delhi’s Sangam Park could become the first lot to be rehabilitated to permanent housing in the vicinity of their jhuggis, as the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) gets ready to build flats here.
While the DDA has constructed flats in the place of slums in the past, this would be the first in-situ housing development project for the DUSIB. A tender asking for bids to construct a total of 582 flats was floated by the DUSIB in June, and the process is likely to be completed by July-end.
Though the DUSIB’s Delhi Slum and JJ Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy, 2015, is awaiting approval, the agency will go ahead with the Sangam Park project as the slum and the proposed flats would be on its own land.
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Step forward
The project has proposed the closest-ever relocation of residents, with the buildings expected to come up within 100 metres of the slum. The Delhi government’s slum rehabilitation policy says the DUSIB should provide alternate accommodation within 5 kms. Two buildings are likely to come up near a railway line and slum tenements in Sangam Park. While one of these would comprise 414 flats spread over 18 floors, the other would have 168 flats on 12 floors. Both buildings would have stilt parking, lifts, firefighting arrangements, CCTV cameras and solar panels. With an estimated cost of ₹75 crore, the project would take two-and-a-half-years to finish.