What is the Dharavi redevelopment project?

What is the estimated cost for re-vamping one of Asia’s biggest cluster of slums? How many residential and commercial buildings are there in Dharavi?

The story so far: On October 18, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Maharashtra’s deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis signed a ‘definitive agreement’ for handing over 47.5 acres of Railway land in Dadar for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project. The agreement, which was inked between the Ministry of Railways’ Rail Land Development Authority and the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Authority, sets the foundation to redevelop one of the largest slum clusters in the world. The Ministry is set to get 0.21% of the profits.

As per the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme, 48.35% of Mumbai’s population live in slums. And of Mumbai’s total area about 24% is occupied by slums. According to a survey carried out by the Maharashtra Social Housing and Action League, there are approximately 49,643 slum dwellers (39,208 residential and 10,435 commercial) and 9,522 renewal tenements in chawls (6,981 are residential and 2,541 are commercial) in Dharavi.

In 2017, Mr. Fadnavis, then Chief Minister, had said that “Making Mumbai slum-free is part of affordable housing for all”. He had said that “...the State government would create 22 lakh affordable houses to cater to the urban and rural areas in Maharashtra....”. The previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government also made moves toward development but was unable to acquire railway land from the Centre for the project.

According to S.V. Srinivas, CEO of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project, of the more than 600 acres of Dharavi, the project covers roughly 240 hectares.

The cost of the project is estimated to have gone up more than six times from ₹4,000 crore in 2004 to ₹26,000 crore in 2019. Now it is estimated to be around ₹28,000 crore. On October 1, the Maharashtra government invited global tenders, the base price of which is ₹1,600 crore. The State government is looking at a joint venture wherein they will hold a 20% stake while the selected lead bidder will hold a majority 80% stake. Eight developers attended the pre-bid meeting, including the Adani Group. As per the announcement made by Mr. Srinivas, the bidding process is expected to close on October 31.

This is the fourth time in the last 18 years that the Maharashtra government is attempting to re-build Asia’s largest slum cluster which is home to close to 58,000 families and around 12,000 commercial establishments. The redevelopment plan is an integrated development approach of the residential, commercial, and industrial with a floor space index of over 4. The SRA and the lead bidder will form a SPV, (a special purpose vehicle, an entity formed for a specific purpose of infrastructure and rehabilitation) and along with the Dharavi Redevelopment Authority will execute Phase 1 of the project which includes redevelopment of specific areas comprising slum and non-slum sections, buildings and chawls. The project includes development of “necessary on-site and off-site infrastructure, including water supply, sewage disposal, electricity supply, piped gas system within seven years from the date of a commencement certificate for the first phase.”

The Maharashtra government is highly optimistic about completing the entire process of rehabilitation and redevelopment in seven years starting next year. However, the companies who have shown interest have said that the period is ‘insufficient’ and seek atleast 10-12 years for the entire process to be completed.