Bombay slum to get $1.3 billion makeover

BOMBAY, March 1 (UPI) -- Dharavi, a Bombay slum home to 600,000, is in line for a $1.3 billion makeover due to its lucrative crafts industry, the BBC reports.

Asia's largest slum, Dharavi is a shanty town, but its crafts industry generates almost $1 billion in business each year. Workshops create leather goods, pottery, and jewelry for Western markets.

Thanks to its business potential, local officials want to renovate the area with a $1.3 billion redevelopment plan.

Authorities want to build schools, brick homes, and other infrastructure including a commercial marketplace which hopefully will triple its current revenues from crafts.

However, residents are somewhat skeptical, and believe that the makeover proposal may be just politics at work, as state and federal elections are scheduled in a few weeks.