Watch | Mumbai Real Estate is Becoming Unaffordable for Almost 90% of Citizens

Mumbai seems to be in the grip of a craze to construct luxury towers everywhere. At the same time, the city’s municipal corporation appears to be handing over every available space to developers. What’s going on?

“Public assets are being transferred at less than their real value. Public authorities are speculating facilitating private speculation on land,” says Hussain Indorewala, urban researcher and an assistant professor at the Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies (KRVIA).

“Much of real estate development in Mumbai is focused towards the premium and luxury end of development,” he said in a conversation with Sidharth Bhatia in the latest episode of The Wire Talks.

"This is because the demand for housing in Mumbai is largely a global demand. But if you look at the capacity of the average citizen in Mumbai to purchase real estate, it is very low,” said Indorewala.

He pointed out that even infrastructure developments, like the Coastal Road, are planned for an imagined citizenry, not for the people who live in the city.” That is why not much attention is paid to affordable transport, he said.

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