Dharavi Redevelopment goes to Adani: What is this mega project?

The much-awaited Dharavi Redevelopment Project has finally moved forward with the Adani Group winning the bid.

The Adani Group put in a Rs 5,069 crore bid for the redevelopment of one of the largest slum sprawls in the world.

DLF, which quoted Rs 2,025 crore for the 259-hectare Dharavi Redevelopment Project, came in second, SVR Srinivas,  chief executive officer of the project, said.

“We will now be sending the details to the government, which will consider and give final approval,” Srinivas told PTI.

He added that the Eknath Shinde government will approve it in a couple of weeks.

Let’s take a closer look at Dharavi and the project:

Located in central Mumbai, Dharavi has a population of 6.5 lakh spread over 2.5 square kilometres.

That’s means 2,27,136 people living per square km – families of eight to 10 people staying in 10x10 hutments.

Apart from congested slum pockets, Dharavi is home to several small-scale leather, pottery and textile manufacturing units.

The area has 5,000 GST-registered enterprises, 15,000 single-room factories and is a hub of international exports with an annual turnover of $1 billion, according to BMC data.

The already famous area gained even notoriety after the 2008 movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and then during the COVID-19 pandemic when the ‘Dharavi Model’ received plaudits from local authorities and the World Health Organisation.

The project’s origins

The Maharashtra government first decided to redevelop Dharavi in 2004, as per the Slum Rehabilitation Authority website.

The state passed a Government Resolution on 4 February, 2004, approving its action plan to redevelop Dharavi as an integrated planned township.

It decided to use land as a resource to cross-subsidise the cost of development.

It planned to divide the land into sectors and by appoint developers for the same.

The government also decided to notify the whole of Dharavi as undeveloped area and to appoint a Special Planning Authority for planning and development.

Stalled attempts

The redevelopment of Dharavi, one of the biggest slums in Asia, throws open over 600 acres of prime land, but the project has met with hurdles over the last two decades.

As per Moneycontrol, the state government made at least four attempts to float bids for the redevelopments in the past 15 years, most recently in 2018, but had no luck.

As per Financial Express, in 2018, the Adani Group’s Rs 4,529 crore bid fell short of the Dubai-based Seclink Technology Corporation’s Rs 7,200 crore.

That bid process was invalidated by the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government after the transfer of railway land became a source of dispute between the state government and Centre.

Fresh bids invited

The Shinde government in September decided to invite fresh bids for the project and floated a global tender in October.

As per The Hindu, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Maharashtra’s deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on 18 October signed an agreement allocating over 47.5 acres of railway land in Dadar to the Dharavi Redevelopment Project.

The government then released a statement saying the concession was offered in light of the overall slowdown in the market and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Adani bid is for the entire Rs 20,000-crore project, and the total timeline to rehabilitate those living in the slums is seven years.

Eight bidders, including entities from South Korea and the UAE, had attended a pre-bid meet held in October and three of them actually bid for the project.

Naman Group, a city-based developer, was the third whose bid did not qualify.

The government had sought a consolidated net worth of a minimum of Rs 20,000 crore to choose the winning bid, and is likely to evaluate both technical and financial eligibility before awarding the project to the highest bidder.

The winning bidder is required to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for executing the project, and a staggered timeline of investments has also been stipulated by the government.

As per The Hindu, the SPV will work together with the Dharavi Redevelopment Authority to execute Phase 1 of the project which includes redevelopment of specific areas comprising slum and non-slum sections, buildings and chawls.

As per Financial Express, 20 per cent of the upfront investment will have to be submitted before signing the development agreement and a further 20 per cent upon submitting an integrated master plan.

The ball is now in the hands of the state government.

As per Financial Express, the state has announced a floor space index (FSI) of 4 for the redevelopment along with a slew of concessions including the premium paid by the developer, inspection charges, Goods and Service Tax.

Adani already has a realty arm in the country, which has already executed or is in the process of executing projects in the financial capital, including one in suburban Ghatkopar and another in central Mumbai’s Byculla.

Adani realty began with the integrated township of Shantivan in Ahmedabad in 2010; then in Gurugram with Oyster Grande in 2012; and finally into Mumbai in 2014 with Western Heights project in Andheri, as per Financial Express.

It currently has five under-construction projects in Ahmedabad, two in Jagatpur, three in Gurugram, and one in Pune, as per the newspaper.

With inputs from agencies

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