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Little India Faces Uncertain Future

By Jehna Paigan

 MELBOURNE - The future for “Little India”- Melbourne’s acknowledged spice capital located in the outer suburb of Dandenong - is in the balance because of multi-million dollar plans to redevelop the area.

VicUrban, in partnership with the City of Greater Dandenong, is behind the redevelopment of the Little India precinct, which runs along Foster Street in Dandenong, as part of its urban renewal project - the largest to be adopted by the Victorian government since the transformation of Melbourne’s Docklands.
 The revitalisation project is part of an ambitious 20-year plan by state and local authorities to transform Dandenong’s public spaces through improved infrastructure.
But the state government’s purchase of seven hectares surrounding the Dandenong Station is raising concerns among the 170 businesses operating on state-owned property . They include Little India tenants who say they have not been included in the VicUrban scheme and are unhappy about the revitalisation project.
“Of course we are not happy, my future is totally uncertain,” said Sajjad, one of the first tenants of Foster Street, where some Indian businesses have been operating for 15 years.
“My India Bazaar is the oldest shop in this area...my intention was to establish a market and now you can see it is a well established market,” Sajjad said.
Another local businessman said the whole redevelopment operation had been “mismanaged. ” Tenants were not immediately informed about VicUrban’s plans for the precinct, and some tenants only heard about it  from other sources.
“A lot of the tenants knew nothing about it at all,” said  Peter, a local business owner and Little India Committee Leader. “In fact the only way some people were informed was when someone like me told them.”
Although the Dandenong Council has invited the Little India community to continue trading in what will be the new shopping precinct, many shop owners are concerned that rent increases may force them out of business with some rents being hiked by 70 percent, according to Peter. 
Council Manager for the revitalisation project, Kevin van Boxtel, declared that one of the key grounds for redevelopment in Dandenong was the city’s well-known cultural diversity.
“A lot of new immigrants do come to Dandenong as their first point of call and, while many move on later, I think it’s been recognized that this city has a lot to offer,” van Boxtel said.
The Council has stated said it is ‘actively working’ with VicUrban and the Little (India) community to preserve the famed cultural enclave.
VicUrban is in discussion with local tenants to determine the future of Melbourne’s spice capital and acknowledges that the precinct is a part of the community worth retaining.
“Whether that can be achieved within the renewal area, in terms of moving, having to relocate them and potentially move back in to floor space within that area, or whether it’s a relocation to another sector of business area, are details that have to be worked through,” van Boxtel said.
While the project is still in its initial stage, shop owners remain  worried about the future.
“We have customers who come from Werribee, from Ballarat, from Bendigo. They all come to Dandenong...I’m not sure we will get these customers back again if we are moved,” Sajjad said, “...it took us 15 or 16 sixteen, years to establish this one (precinct) and all of a sudden we’ll have to go anywhere.”
The precise date for tenants to vacate the area is still unknown, according to the Dandenong Council, but van Boxtel said businesses can continue tuntil such time that the land is required for redevelopment.
Little India shop owners gloomily anticipate their forced departure within three years, following the conclusion of current lease agreements.