MHADA to cut a foot from flat height to create extra floor

Dharavi redevelopment project

In order to rehabilitate more people in the buildings it is erecting as part of the Dharavi redevelopment project (DRP), the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has decided to bring the ceiling of an apartment closer to the floor by a foot in the houses yet to be built.&nbspFrom 10.25 feet, the height of a room will now be 9.25 feet. This will help MHADA squeeze out an additional floor -- that is, 8-10 more flats -- in the buildings it hasn't begun construction on.

Lowering the ceiling: A Mhada building that has come up at Sector 5 as part of the redevelopment project

Space skimping
The housing authority's plan is to construct six ground-plus-18-storey buildings in Sector 5 of Dharavi, which it is redeveloping on pilot basis. At present, 356 apartments in three buildings have already come up. They are 225 sq ft in area, and 10.25 feet in height, which is more than other apartment houses across the city.

Three more buildings are slated to come up in the area as part of the pilot, for the resettlement and rehabilitation of inhabitants of the shantytown on the northern edges of the island city. And these will have the more compact flats. "Usually the distance between the floor and ceiling in any given flat is between 9-9.25 feet but in the flats that we have already constructed in Dharavi, it is 10.25 feet. We think it is too high and so have decided to decrease the height to 9.25 feet in the new buildings that we are going to construct," a MHADA official said

The decision will help the state redeveloper generate more space. "By reducing the height between the floor and ceiling we will be able to construct an additional floor and will be able to get around 8-10 flats extra," the official added.u00a0

356 number of flats already built at Dharavi, Sector 5 in three buildings

6 total number of buildings that will form the complex, as peru00a0the redevelopment planu00a0