Real Estate Tycoon Envisions Slum-Free Mumbai: Hiranandani’s Bold Claims
Real estate tycoon Niranjan Hiranandani has lauded the Maharashtra government's vision for the housing sector, which aims to eliminate slums and provide housing and infrastructure to all residents. In an interview with ANI, Hiranandani expressed his belief that the ‘housing for all’ goal is achievable and stressed the possibility of eliminating all slums in Mumbai.
He said, “My view is that Housing for all as an objective, we can achieve. There's no shortage of money in the country. We can eliminate all the slums in Mumbai. Devendra Fadnavis has said that in seven to eight years, we can eliminate where half the population of Mumbai lives in slums today.”
Highlighting the government’s expenditure on infrastructure in Mumbai, Hiranandani pointed out that a network of more than 300 kilometres of metro has been added in the last two years. “We are now spending; we're doing 300 kilometres of metro. We had 190 kilometres of suburban rail for 65 years. We are going to add 300 plus kilometres of metro in two years. We have a cross-harbour bridge. We are putting up a second airport. We are already planning a third airport. We can do anything in order to make a super achievement in this country today, which was never, never, never dreamt of yesterday,” he said.
When asked about the criticism over the Dharavi redevelopment project, Hiranandani backed industrialist Gautam Adani, stating that India needs more wealth creators like him. “We need 40 Adanis to come. We have only one Adani and one Ambani. If 40 come, then our country will improve and there will be more competition between them. Both of them are good people and do good work,” he said.
He added, “They give jobs to everybody...There will always be jealousy of super-successful people. And there will always be a reason to say that they are close to the power centres, that's why they've become rich. They don't understand how much work goes in order to be what they are.”
Hiranandani’s remarks come amid the ongoing Dharavi redevelopment project, for which the Maharashtra government approved the master plan in May this year. The proposed master plan is an attempt to redevelop one of the largest slums in the world, aiming to transform it into a modern, well-planned urban area with adequate housing and infrastructure.
