Confirming the development, SVR Srinivas, CEO of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project, told The Indian Express, “The Adani Group has quoted Rs 5,069 crore for this project, followed by Rs 2,025 crore quoted by the DLF Group. Only Adani and DLF qualified for the final bidding. The third, Naman Group, could not make it.
Adani Group lost a bid for the project in January 2019.
The Dharavi redevelopment project has been stuck for almost two decades. Dharavi, considered one of the largest slums in the world, is in real estate gold. Its redevelopment will involve a huge investment of money up front amid difficult complications of land acquisition and rehabilitation. Here’s what the project entails and why it’s been delayed for so long.
What is the Dharavi Redevelopment Project?
Dharavi is just a stone’s throw from India’s richest business district, the Bandra-Kurla complex, where commercial office premiums are among the highest in the country.
The sprawling slum, spread over 2.8 sq km, is home to an informal leather and pottery industry employing over one lakh people. As reported by The Indian Express the state government had earlier envisioned this sprawl to be transformed into a cluster of high-rise buildings with improved urban infrastructure. This led to the resettlement of 68,000 people, including slum dwellers and those with commercial establishments.
The state was supposed to provide 300-square-foot houses free of charge to residents with proof that their slum structure existed before January 1, 2000, and at a cost to those who settled in Dharavi between 2000 and 2011.
When was the project first proposed?
In 1999, the BJP-Sena government first proposed to redevelop Dharavi. Then the Government of Maharashtra in 2003-04 decided to redevelop Dharavi as an integrated planned city and an action plan was approved for this.
It was decided to develop Dharavi using land as a resource to cross-subsidize development costs through a sale component based on the slum rehabilitation scheme. It will be divided into sectors and entrepreneurs will be assigned to them. The government has also decided to notify the entire Dharavi as an undeveloped area and appoint a special planning authority for its development.
In 2011, the government canceled all tenders and drew up a master plan.
In 2018, the BJP-Sena government formed a special purpose vehicle for Dharavi and notified it for the redevelopment project. Later, global tenders were invited.
Adani’s loss in 2019
Although Dubai-based infrastructure firm Seclink Technologies Corporation emerged as the successful bidder in January 2019 against Adani, the tender was not awarded following the decision to include railway land in the redevelopment project.
By 2020, the government of Maharashtra also changed in October of that year
the Uddhav Thackrey-led Maharashtra Vikas Agadi government canceled the tender and said new tenders would be floated soon. The MVA government alleged that one of the reasons for canceling the tender was the Centre’s delay in transferring railway land vital to the project.
After the government changed again with Eknath Shinde taking over as CM, the issue of land transfer from the Center was believed to be settled and fresh tenders were invited.