Mumbai’s Iconic Dhobi Ghat Gets Swanky Homes
Omkar Realtors will house over 5,000 residents associated with washing, dyeing, drying, transportation and ironing, in 2 towers.
MUMBAI, Aug 22 (The CONNECT) – In a major initiative, redevelopment major Omkar Realtors has commenced delivery of tenements in the world’s tallest rehabilitation towers of 42 floors each at the iconic Dhobi Ghat -Mahalaxmi, Mumbai.
Around 1000 families have started getting their new homes along with 19 retail units in Phase 1 at Saibaba Nagar. The phase 1 handover of this SRA project in two towers will be housing approximately 5000 residents of societies bordering the dhobi ghat.
Rajiv Agarwal, Chief Operating Officer (COO)- Property Affairs of Omkar Realtors said, apart from being life-transforming development for the weaker sections of the society, the project is a milestone in engineering. Its vertical development definitely puts it on the world map being the tallest rehabilitation structure in a free housing scheme, he said.
Developed under the aegis of Maharashtra government’s slum rehabilitation scheme, this project will be housing approximately 16,000 slum residents in phases.
The iconic Dhobi Ghat is one of the largest outdoor open laundries in the world. This rehabilitation project is spread across 12 acres of prime land in south Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi location and includes luxury housing overlooking the race course and Arabian sea.
The project, a joint venture, between Omkar and Piramal realty will primarily benefit dhobis and people in associated labour such as dyeing, drying, transportation and ironing. The heritage site, just 150 metres away from the project, will be retained.
The annual turnover of the dhobi business is pegged at approximately Rs 125 crore. More than half of the new generation of dhobis have moved out of traditional family business.
With technological advancement and mechanization in the washing and drying process, the traditional dhobi way of washing clothes is getting obsolete. Dhobis are upgrading their skill sets to decrease water consumption of water and check health hazards.
The entire slum rehabilitation project has also set a qualitative benchmark with the state of art construction, deployment of spaces for welfare centres, society offices and balwadis.
The 4-towered SRA project deploys 16 elevators of leading German brand Schindler; normally offered in premium housing only.
Omkar has been in the forefront in the slum redevelopment space. Recently, the company crossed the 3,000-houses delivery milestone at its Bhoiwada (Parel-Sewri) project, taking the number of slum rehab houses to over 16,000 over the past decade.
