Ashray in sight for civic conservancy workers

Three years after it was proposed,the project to house 22,000 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation conservancy workers has finally kicked off with the civic body inviting tenders for the initiative.

Ashray is expected to cost between Rs 800 crore to Rs 900 crore and the BMC wants to carry out the project on a public-private partnership. Chief engineer of BMC’s solid waste management department said tenders have been invited for the 17 BMC plots identified in the island city. Another 21 plots have been identified in the suburbs. “Around 22,000 tenements have to be made. We have started the bidding process for the plots in the island city,” he said. Though the project involves new construction,the FSI granted will be that of redevelopment projects,he said. The city will get an FSI of four while the suburbs will get an FSI of 1.5.

Each 350-sq-ft carpet area tenement is expected to cost Rs 5 lakh. The BMC has been making allocations for the project in the budget for the last three years. While announcing BMC’s budget for 2010-11,then municipal commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya had said that parts of the lands may be given away for commercial exploitation.