[Jai]

I dunno why they keep repeating the falsehood that this is the largest slum in Asia, but if that tagline underscores the transforming of India into an economic giant, than maybe its a mis-statement worth repeating.

Dharavi project gets a move on

Firms from 16 countries will vie for makeover of Asia's largest slum



Madhurima Nandy & Ketaki Ghoge
Mumbai

23 May 07
HT Epaper

FROM JUNE 1, companies from 16 countries will bid for the contract that will create Mumbai's biggest construction site, the Rs 9,250-crore project to transform Dharavi, Asia's largest slum.

Home to about 60,000 families, the biggest shantytown on the continent is a 535-acre sprawl, almost 12 times bigger than Nariman Point. The annual turnover of the industrial base alone in Dharavi is more than Rs 4,000 crore.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh gave the final green signal for the bidding to begin for the mammoth project. Global Expression of Interest (EOI) will be published in major newspapers in countries like the US, the UK, Canada, Dubai, Japan, China, Singapore and, of course, India, to name a few.

"We begin selling the tender documents from June 1 and kickstart the first phase of global bidding for Dharavi. It will follow international bidding norms as defined by the World Bank," chief of Dharavi Development Authority I.S. Chahal. "The first phase, which has to finish in 90 days, involves scrutinising each bid and short-listing the selected bidders."

Chahal said one bidder for each of the five sectors in the project will be chosen in the second phase.

Deshmukh, who did not want further delay in the project, held a marathon meeting with stakeholders, non-governmental organisations, legislators and government officers.

"There has been much discussion on the project. It was cleared three years ago and it's high time that we got it off the ground,'' Deshmukh said. The entire process of scrutiny of bids will be conducted by a committee of secretaries. "We will choose the bidder depending on whoever pays the highest premium – basically the one who will share the maximum amount of profit with the government," Chahal said.

Redevelopment of Dharavi would be special and a first in many ways. The project has demanded an independent set of Development Control Regulations (DCR). A copy of the changed DCR will also be attached with the bid document, as the bidder will have to know the new regulations. For the first time, a slum redevelopment project will include rehabilitation of industrial units.

Property consultants said the massive project will increase property rates in the area. "Property rates will easily go up to Rs 8,000-10,000 per sq ft," Managing Director Anuj Puri of Trammel Crow Meghraj said. "This is be cause of the area's proximity to the Bandra-Kurla Complex and for its planned development."

Puri also believes the area has a lot of potential for retail and entertainment facilities. If all goes well, the im plementation of the project will begin by September, after developers are selected for the each of the five self-sufficient sectors in Dharavi, said Varsha Gaikwad, legislator from Dharavi, who was present at the meet- ing. "The CM agreed to our suggestions that residents should be allowed to buy additional residential or commercial space (beyond 225 sq ft) at construction cost and not at market rates,'' Gaikwad said.

"We have also been demanding the should have only commercial saleable component."

Approved in principal in 2003, the project got the cabinet nod in 2004 but has been fraught with proce- dural delays and controver- sies over the last six months.

madhurima.nandy@ hindustantimes.com



FACTFILE
Total area: 535 acres
Cost of project: 9,250 crore
To Be Rehoused: 3 lakh in 600 buildings

69 percent of the land is oned by BMC,
10% by state & Centre,
21% is private land


CONDITIONS FOR BIDDERS
Experience in building one-acre townships anywhere in the world.
Company net worth at least Rs 600 crore (that is, 30 per cent of the project cost).
Construction experience with an annual construction turnover of Rs 500 crore.
No consortium to get more than one sector, though they can bid for all.
Each consortium can have only 3 parties.