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(Back to projects page)
| Nirman's
Project Portfolio
Currently, some of the projects that Nirman is involved in are : Housing - CLIFF : Rajiv-Indira,
Suryodaya and Ganga Housing Society, Mumbai Housing - Non CLIFF: Hadapsar Relocation Housing Project, Pune Infrastructure - CLIFF: Bombay
Sanitation Project, Mumbai Infrastructure - non CLIFF: RAJIV
INDIRA SURYODAYA AND GANGA HOUSING SOCIETY, MUMBAI This slum development scheme was established by the Government of Maharashtra in 1995 and was envisioned to create enough incentives for private builders to construct free tenements for 800,000 poor households in Mumbai. However, the SRA scheme did not take off and only 27,000 tenements have been built to date. This pilot project by Nirman aims to provide permanent and secure housing for 209 families in Dharavi, Asia's largest slum. It is particularly important because in light of the poor success of the SRA, it is crucial to examine and consider alternatives to commercial builder-driven housing. By 1999 it had grown to include two other communities as well - the Suryodaya Housing Society and the Ganga Housing Society. Five apartment blocks will be built and each tenement will be a minimum of 225 sq. ft. Three buildings will be used to house community members and the other two buildings will be sold on the market to make up costs and generate profits. Apart from using its revolving funds, SPARC-Nirman took a loan for this project from Citibank, to which the UK-based NGO, Homeless International stood as guarantor for this. MHADA has provided transit tenements for community members. This project has been sub-contracted to Falak Constructions. The total cost of the project is estimated to be around Rs.10 crores. Nirman will recover this amount once all the buildings are completed, and the flats and commercial premises are sold. The costs are expected to be met from the sale of transferable land development rights (34%), apartments (51%) and commercial spaces (15%). The Bharat Janta Housing Society in Dharavi was formed after seeing the work and progress of the Rajiv Indira Housing Society. Also based in Dharavi, it is another pilot project to construct four apartment buildings under the SRA slum redevelopment scheme. In terms of city-wide solutions to slum upgradation, it is a particularly important project because it reflects the challenges that most localities face. This settlement is in the "middle" of Dharavi, and has none of the special roadside "edge" advantages of Rajiv Indira/Suryodaya. However it is a stable community which has participated in the learning from Rajiv Indira and has undertaken all the necessary preliminary steps to get its work done. Furthermore, this project tests SPARC-Nirman's hypothesis that Dharavi has a "market" within itself, that such projects ARE profitable and flats will be sold. In terms of community organisation, it demonstrates the peer learning which SPARC-Nirman hopes will lead to produce the next five SRA projects. The finances for this project are also expected to be initially borne by Bridge Funds. So far, work has begun in terms of clearing the area and shifting people to live in transit homes. We have also received permission to start construction!
In 1997 the SRA of
Maharashtra finally included pavement dwellers in state relocation
schemes. After 15 years of negotiating for land from the government, it took another three years for the land to be clearly demarcated. Furthermore, other problems such as a dispute over an illegal factory meant that further land was encroached. By the time all the clearances came through, a large section of the land could not be used for construction as it adjoined a natural drain. As of now, the project is ready for 356 of the 536 households. This is one of the key projects of Nirman-SPARC for a number of reasons:
Currently, this project is being financed by the Alliance's revolving funds. No loans or subsidies have yet been applied for, although the Alliance is considering how best to manage this process. Started in 1999, this project involves constructing 850 homes for the bidi (indigenous Indian cigarettes) workers of the housing cooperative - Maa Saheb Bidi Kamgaar Sahakari Grih Nirman Sanstha Ltd in Sholapur. These workers are all part of the Bidi Trade Union -an all-woman organisation - whose interest in housing was spurred by their exposure to the work of the Alliance of SPARC, the National Slum Dwellers Federation and Mahila Milan when they visited Mumbai to learn about savings and credit, house design and all the rituals that the Alliance follows. Today, they have purchased 100 acres of land just outside the municipal limits and intend to construct about 5000 houses. The first batch of 500 houses is under construction and 350 of them are ready. Each house design has a verandah which can be enclosed, and used for beedi-rolling. It has a carpet area of about 270 square feet. The alliance of SPARC, Mahila Milan and NSDF is assisting them through Bridge Finance but finally they will get the Central government subsidy of Rs 20,000 and the matching State subsidy of Rs. 20,000. As a house costs about Rs 60,000, their own contribution is also Rs 20,000 per family. The bidi workers will take a 15 year HUDCO loan. This project has had interesting repurcussions. For example, a rival trade union of bidi workers, who were aligned to another political party, put pressure on its party to also start constructing houses. The party initiated a project for 10,000 houses and other groups are also coming up. Thus, because of this project, central and state subsidies that had been unutilized for years, will finally be accessed. This is a Resettlement and Rehabilitation programme that the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) wishes to undertake before it embarks on a road widening project. In this first stage about 1200 households will be involved in a pilot project and this will form the basis of policy guidelines for similar city-NGO-communities partnerships in the future. Currently, surveys are being undertaken to gather information on and identify affected households. Nirman-SPARC has been invited to build 411 houses and the PMC will provide both the land and infrastructure for this. MHADA has agreed to provide communities with the central government's VAMBAY scheme, which is Rs. 50,000 subsidy per household. If communities require any additional work, they are expected to contribute. Work is half complete and NIRMAN has requested CLIFF for bridge funds. The Rajiv-Indira Housing scheme in Mumbai inspired a similar design in Bangalore where 160 houses are being constructed in a slum called Sunnuduguddu. In 1998, SPARC was asked to submit proposals to the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board (KSCB) to redevelop slums. The Municipality was willing to purchase these lands from the private owners, but was unable to afford to construct homes. In fact, if these projects were successful they were to form the basis of housing policy in the city of Bangalore. The Alliance had to overcome a number of hurdles along the way. The community was not part of the federation and it took some time to organise them. Next, the idea of living in multi-storied structures was a new one for slum dwellers in Bangalore and it took two housing exhibitions to convince them. Moreover, soon after the work began and the plinth had been laid, a private land owner of the adjoining piece of land took the KSCB to court challenging the boundary. In fact, he won the case and this resulted in the land available becoming substantially less. As a result, the finances for the project were badly affected. Also. the court case meant designing an entirely new layout and more loss of time. The federation is now committed to completing this construction by the end of 2003. An on-site supervisor has been appointed who visits the site everyday and the local Mahila Milan and people from the community are undertaking the actual construction. A recent addition to the Alliance's portfolio this project involves the construction of 5 seven-storied apartment buildings for over 700 households in an area called Goregoan, in the north west of Mumbai. Before the Alliance was involved in the project, the landowners - Deshmukh Builders - submitted the layout and building plans to MMRDA. However, they were unwilling to actually develop the land themselves and were referred to SPARC. SPARC involved a team of experienced architects, planners and structural engineers as consultants to work on the project. They prepared detailed layouts, architectural and structural drawings, specifications and tender documents. The plot has been divided into 3 segments, with different civil contractors responsible for construction work in each segment. Currently, construction is well underway – in fact, the Alliance is working hard at sticking to its 15-month deadline. A special feature of this project is that SPARC has selected contractors who have deep enough pockets to fund construction initially from their own funds. Since TDR is released according to different stages of construction, the builders will be compensated as and when the TDR is released and sold by the Alliance. Such an arrangement frees the Alliance from huge initial investment. This is a particularly important project because financial institutions and contractors are also beginning to recognise that Nirman can help them fill in gaps in their own portfolios, namely in areas of slum development. Moreover, Nirman sees these as a precedent setting projects because by keeping costs low and quality high, by moving the system without doling out large bribes, and by including communities in the construction of their new homes, a standard is set for future construction of low income housing.
Infrastructure : Bombay
Sanitation Project, Mumbai MUMBAI SLUM SANITATION PROJECT It is estimated that over 50% of Mumbai's 1.35 crore strong population lives in slums without adequate access to toilets. The Slum Sanitation Project (SSP) or Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project (MSDP) of the MCGM is an ambitious programme that was launched in 2001 with the assistance of the World Bank to substantially alter the face of slums in the city of Mumbai. It aimed to build over 10,000 toilet seats in the city and meet the target of 1 toilet per 5 households. The Alliance of SPARC, Mahila Milan and the National Slum Dwellers Federation has a proven track record of working on infrastructure for the poor. In 2000, the Alliance constructed 114 toilet blocks or nearly 3000 seats for the Pune municipality. The philosophy the Alliance follows is simple - the municipality should pay for and involve communities (especially women) in the planning and construction of toilets and the communities will maintain and run them on completion. As a result, for the first time, separate children's toilets were built and this model, which got substantial national and international publicity, was considered one of the best examples of successful partnerships between city authorities and the poor. In 2001, influenced by the Pune model, the MCGM published a tender for over 10,000 toilets which would later be managed by community groups. The Alliance was given the task of completing 320 toilet blocks or 6400 seats in 16 administrative wards in the city within two years Eight wards were given to other NGOs and contractors. The work also involved raising awareness of this programme in slums, organising, forming and training community groups where there were none, and being in charge of collecting community contributions. UTI Bank stood as guarantor for the Alliance. What was different about this programme was that communities would be completely involved in the day-to-day running of their toilets. Unlike previous toilets which were free and expected to be managed by municipal workers (who invariably stopped coming to the site) the community was expected to pay a small monthly membership fee. This would cover the costs of a caretaker's salary, cleaning equipment, water and electricity charges and any other related expenses. So far, nearly 200 toilet blocks or over 4000 toilets have been constructed. In Pune, a partnership between the Pune Municipal Corporation, NGOs and community-based organisations has built more than 400 community toilet blocks. These toilets have greatly improved sanitation for more than half a million people. They have also demonstrated the potential of municipal community partnerships to improve conditions for low-income groups. In 1999, the Municipal Commissioner in Pune, Ratnakar Gaikwad, sought to greatly increase the scale of public toilet construction and to ensure that more appropriate toilets got built by inviting NGOs to make bids for toilet construction. Between 1992 and 1999, only 22 toilet blocks had been constructed; the new programme planned to build 220 blocks during 1999-2000 and another 220 during 2000-2001. The contracts were not only for building toilets but also for maintenance. In awarding contracts, priority was given to settlements with more than 500 inhabitants without toilet facilities and, after these, to areas where facilities were so dilapidated that they needed replacement. Bids from eight NGOs were accepted, after a review of their track record. SPARC-Nirman was awarded a contract to build 114 toilet blocks (with a total of more than 2000 toilet seats and 500 children's toilet seats). The Alliance designed and costed the project, the city provided the capital costs and the communities developed the capacity for management and maintenance. The design of the toilet
blocks introduced several innovations. Unlike the previous models,
they were bright and well ventilated, with better quality construction
(which also made cleaning and maintenance easier). They had large
storage tanks to ensure there was enough water for users to wash
after defecation and to keep the toilets clean. Each toilet block
had separate entrances and facilities for men and women. A block
of children's toilets was included, in part because children always
lose out to adults when there are queues for a toilet, and in part
because many young children are frightened to use conventional laterines.
The children's toilets were specially designed for children's use
- and included smaller squat plates, handles (to prevent overbalancing
when squatting) and and did not have large pit openings. In many
toilet blocks, there were also toilets designed for easier use by
the elderly and the disabled. Toilet blocks also included a room
where the caretaker and their family could live - which meant lower
wages could be paid for maintenance, thus reducing the running costs.
In some toilet blocks where there was sufficient space, a community
hall was built; small fees charged for its use could also help cover
maintenance costs. Furthermore, having a community hall right on
top of the toilets also brings pressure on the caretaker to keep
the complex clean. Despite these innovations, the actual cost of
the toilet blocks was still 5% less than estimates developed by
the public works department of the government. The whole toilet
block programme was also celebrated in a toilet festival at which
the contribution of all those who had helped in the programme could
be acknowledged - including people from government agencies and
from communities. This programme brought
about a reconfiguration of the relationship between the city government,
NGOs and communities. The city government recognised the capacity
of community organisations to develop their own solutions, supported
by local NGOs. The city authorities changed their role from being
a toilet provider to setting standards, funding the capital cost
of construction and providing water and electricity. The community toilets
in Pune encouraged visits from officials and community representatives
from other cities. In fact, the Mumbai Slum
Sanitation Project is based on the Pune example. |
