The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) will independently undertake the cluster redevelopment of Pratiksha Nagar in Sion, Mumbai, instead of appointing a private builder. The decision will allow the authority to retain control of the 25-hectare layout and the additional homes generated through the project. The redevelopment will be Mhada’s first project under the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) model. Under this arrangement, the authority will remain responsible for the project and appoint a contractor to execute the construction for a fixed fee. The approach differs from the Construction and Development Agency (C&DA) model used for several major Mhada projects. Under the C&DA structure, a private developer finances and constructs the project on Mhada land, transfers a portion of the completed flats to the authority for lottery allotments and sells most of the remaining homes. Motilal Nagar, Abhyudaya Nagar, Bandra Reclamation, Adarsh Nagar and GTB Nagar were developed through that route. Pratiksha Nagar comprises 216 buildings and nearly 10,000 homes. About 90 buildings have been used as transit accommodation over several decades, while the remaining buildings house beneficiaries who received homes through Mhada lotteries. The first phase will focus on dangerous and dilapidated buildings, primarily transit camps accommodating around 5,508 residents. Families identified as encroachers will also be provided transit accommodation while courts consider their cases. Mhada is expected to submit its EPC proposal to the state housing department for approval in the coming days, following Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s announcement in March that the authority would undertake the redevelopment itself. The authority favours cluster redevelopment over separate projects led by individual housing societies because it enables common amenities and infrastructure to be planned together. Mhada also sees the model as a way to increase the city’s housing stock amid a shortage of vacant land in Mumbai.