Mumbai: BMC is in the process of creating a Mumbai redevelopment facilitation portal (MRFP) with the aim of ensuring transparency and improving access to information while reducing housing societies’ dependence on consultants for legal and financial clarity.The proposed digital platform is expected to bring together stakeholders involved in redevelopment, including societies, developers, architects, lawyers, financial agencies and govt agencies such as BMC, Mhada, SRA and MMRDA. It will provide housing societies with information to aid decision-making. Societies will be able to enter details of their plots, while models trained on data from past projects will estimate costs, timelines and risks.The portal will also compare various redevelopment models, including self-redevelopment, developer-led redevelopment and public-private partnerships (PPPs), and generate a report based on the assessment.It has also been proposed as a marketplace for verified architects, developers, legal experts and consultants as well as banks and non-banking finance companies to connect with housing societies and each other, with the aim of streamlining the redevelopment process.“As of now, redevelopment is slow, opaque and dispute-prone. Societies are over-dependent on consultants, while projects are also stalled due to limited access to credible financiers. Societies and individuals are also misled. Besides, multiple NOCs and clearances are required from planning authorities, and societies do not know how to go about their redevelopment. We hope to eliminate these issues through the facilitation portal by bringing housing societies, developers, govt bodies and financiers onto a single platform,” said a civic official.The portal would be an AI- and GIS-enabled system designed to improve transparency and accountability, said the official. “More importantly, societies will be able to access information and track records of developers and other stakeholders as they will be made available on the portal, including the number of redevelopment projects a developer has undertaken and the status of those projects.”Under the proposed system, societies would be able to submit project details, complete KYC formalities, track approvals, assess redevelopment feasibility and receive automated compliance guidance based on the requirements of the planning authority concerned.An AI-based feasibility calculator would analyse factors such as plot size, building age and occupancy. It would compare redevelopment options, including self-redevelopment, developer-led redevelopment and PPPs, and generate a report containing an estimated cost and a checklist of required NOCs.The portal would use GIS mapping to identify land parcels, zoning details, slum demarcations and potential redevelopment clusters. The system is proposed to be integrated with the GIS systems of BMC, Mhada and SRA.Artificial intelligence and machine learning would help detect overlapping claims, encroachments and other anomalies, while forecasting the potential impact of redevelopment on traffic and utility infrastructure. AI would also recommend finance providers based on the specific requirements of each society.Public dashboards are proposed to be part of the portal to provide live progress of ongoing redevelopment projects.
