| There was an old AZ-IN model, showing the capital destroyed
| by each slum dweller and hawker -- does it still hold? If I recall,
| the argument: It will always be cheaper to pay more than they earn
| only if they moved out of the way.

Architexturez wrote:

ref:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/india/article1873073.ece

From The TimesJune 2, 2007

Shantytown tells Bombay to prepare for a bloodbathDharavi may embarrass a city aiming to become a world finance centre but for many it is home and livelihood.1

The residents won’t give up their homes without a fight, Arputham told Forbes.com. They raised black flags outside their homes last week in protest, and plan demonstrations and petitions to the federal government and rights groups. Arputham says the government has not consulted the majority of residents on its plans for Dharavi’s future.

He is confident of rallying Dharavi’s residents for more protests in the future. “We’re living in a strategic place; blockages here could make the city collapse for hours.”

However, architect Mukesh Mehta, who is advising the state government in Maharashtra on the rehabilitation program, says a majority of Dharavi’s residents are supportive of the plan and have had it explained in detail by officials.

“Slums are vote banks. The politicians will do everything in their power not to lose them,” he says. “This is not just a slum housing initiative. The plan is to integrate those living in Dharavi with the mainstream, to give them access to schools, better fields of work.”

Mehta says officials have held meetings with small business owners in Dharavi and they’ve been assured that their work zones will not be drastically reduced in the rehabilitation.

Small business owners who spoke to Forbes.com seemed more receptive to the plan than general residents, especially those living in the larger houses.

Dharavi, where migrants from across the country come to earn a quick buck, sees an estimated $750 million annually in revenues from various small-scale businesses. Workers, many of them underage, in factories like plastic recycling and pottery make about $5 a day.

Mehta says the entire project will take seven years to complete. “We expect construction to start in six months, and will move people out in phases when their homes/factories are being rebuilt. We have to be sensitive to their needs or the project won’t take off,” he says.

India’s slum population has more than doubled in the last two decades to over 60 million, as people from villages move to cities in search of jobs. According to government figures released in May, about 10% of the country’s slum dwellers are in Mumbai — the largest numbers in one city — followed by New Delhi, where close to 2 million people live in slums.