Mumbai: The BMC has proposed leasing 15 acres of reclaimed land at the Mulund dumping ground to the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) for five years to set up a casting yard, precast element manufacturing facility and ready-mix concrete (RMC) plant, with the civic body expected to earn a rental of around Rs 103.47 crore in rent over the lease period.The proposal, cleared by the civic administration, will be placed before the Improvement Committee meeting to be held on Tuesday afternoon.It proposes leasing 60,703 sq m of land to Navbharat Mega Developers Pvt Ltd, the company appointed by the state government to execute the Dharavi Redevelopment Project.According to the proposal, the land forms part of the Mulund landfill where biomining is underway. While portions of the site have already been reclaimed, the proposed 15-acre parcel still contains an estimated 2.5-3 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste, requiring removal, site remediation, soil stabilisation and levelling before it can be used.The BMC considered several options for fixing the lease rental and eventually adopted the rate already approved by its bridges department for casting yards used in infrastructure projects. The rent has been fixed at Rs 252 per sq m per month, with a 6% annual escalation. This works out to a gross rental of around Rs 103.47 crore over five years.However, Navbharat Mega Developers will undertake remediation of the site at an estimated cost of Rs 20.04 crore, which will be adjusted against the lease rental after verification by the chief engineer (Solid Waste Management). Following this adjustment, the civic body will receive a net rental of Rs 83.44 crore, while the total amount payable including 18% GST will be about Rs 100 crore.Under the proposed payment mechanism, the developer will pay six months’ rent with GST in advance after taking possession of the land. The remediation cost will then be adjusted against rental dues over the following 14 months, after which the full rent, with annual escalation, will become payable for the remainder of the lease period.The proposal states that the land will be handed over on an “as is where is” basis and can be used only for the approved purposes of establishing a casting yard, precast element manufacturing unit and RMC plant. “Any extension of the five-year lease will require fresh approval from the competent authority,” said an official.The lease also places the responsibility of obtaining all statutory and environmental clearances—including approvals from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), wherever applicable—on the developer.The developer will also be required to scientifically process all legacy waste in accordance with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, comply with environmental monitoring norms, and provide infrastructure such as CCTV surveillance, access control systems and safety facilities at the site.
