Mumbai: The Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government has attracted initial interest from real estate developers for the much-delayed Dharavi redevelopment project, but they have raised some strong concerns regarding the project’s implementation.
According to the minutes of the pre-bid meeting held on October 11, accessed by ThePrint, potential bidders raised doubts about being able to complete the rehabilitation for such a complex project within the government-mandated seven-year period Is.
He has also raised issues like dealing with the huge number of slum dwellers who may be ineligible for free rehabilitation under the project.
The companies expressed these concerns at a pre-bid meeting of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Authority (DRA) after the companies floated a new tender for the revamping of Asia’s largest slum.
Eight companies, including one from South Korea and another from the United Arab Emirates participated in Pre-bid meeting for the project.
“It is an extremely complex project and requires out-of-the-box thinking. The solutions should be multidimensional, not just housing but also livelihood and transit housing. We tried to do the project keeping the complexity in mind. The bidders had a few questions Even once the bids are finalised, the road ahead will be challenging,” SVR Srinivas, Chief Executive Officer, DRA told ThePrint.
Dharavi Redevelopment Project It was first conceived almost two decades ago.
Dharavi being a complex area comprising long stretches of multi-storeyed slums, standalone buildings, commercial establishments, industries and tannery factories, the project has so far been a non-starter despite some attempts to tender it by previous governments.
The last attempt It was in 2018 to take the project off the ground. Dubai-based Seklink Technology Corporation had emerged as the preferred bidder in January 2019.
However, the tender was rejected in October 2020 stating that the 45-acre railway land parcel, which later became part of the project, was not considered in the tender process.
accommodating ‘ineligible’ residents
According to state government data, Dharavi is spread over 259 hectares, of which 173.9 hectares will be part of the redevelopment project. Of this, 147.4 hectares are estimated to be occupied by slums.
In 2007–08, it was organized by the Maharashtra Social Housing and Action League (MASHAL), a Pune-based non-governmental organisation. a survey of Dharavi residents further concluded that there were 49,643 slum dwellers, both residential and commercial, and 9,522 houses. tricks,
According to the survey, there were 4,818 other slum dwellers on railway land in Dharavi. The numbers are unlikely to be much different now as the survey was conducted keeping the cut-off of January 1, 2000, to identify residents eligible for free resettlement. 2000 cut-off is still there for the project.
According to the bid documents prepared by the DRA, around seven lakh slum dwellers living on the upper floors of mezzanine flowerbeds and jhuggi-jhopri structures will be ineligible for free in-situ rehabilitation.
The DRA has said that these people will have to be accommodated in housing schemes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana or in rental housing schemes within a radius of 10 km.
Several companies that participated in the pre-bid meeting had questions about how exactly this could happen. “The number seems unusually high (around 7 lakh), which is ten times the number of qualified people according to the torch survey,” a bidder was quoted as saying in the minutes.
The DRA has clarified that this is only an estimate and the bidder can conduct their own survey to determine the final number.
Another question was raised as to whether the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), the entity leading the project, in which the winning bidder would be the major partner, would be responsible for paying rent compensation to seven lakh indivisible slum dwellers and for how long. Will happen.
The DRA has stated that it will endeavor to provide and obtain transit accommodation salt pan land To provide housing to these ineligible residents on behalf of the Center, but does not undertake the obligation.
As per the terms of the tender, the responsibility of finding land parcels for providing alternative housing to the ineligible slum dwellers also rests with the SPV implementing the project.
Prospective bidders were worried that they were not getting anything within a 10 km radius. As per the response of the DRA, the bidders can locate the land parcel anywhere in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, but they must protect the livelihood of the residents.
“In previous attempts to bid for the project, except for the last attempt in 2018, there was no mention of what was to be done with the ineligible residents. Here we have given the way forward and the option of owning alternative housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. We have given a timeline and an action plan to protect not only their homes, but their livelihoods,” said Srinivas.
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‘Project to be completed in 7 years is very complex’
As per the bid documents, the SPV will have to complete all on-site and off-site infrastructure such as water supply, sewage disposal, electricity and piped gas as well as redevelopment of slums and non-slum structures within a period . Seven Years.
According to the minutes, one of the companies present in the pre-bid meeting said, “Considering the size, complexity and constraints in the availability of open land, the completion period of rehabilitation, renovation, facilities and infrastructure component may be 10 or 12 months.” year should be for each stage of redevelopment. ,
The tender documents also stated that the Dharavi project would be considered complete at the end of the 17th year from the lease execution date, i.e. by then the SPV should be completely withdrawn.
The companies that have shown interest have expressed concern on how the project will be feasible within the time frame and it should be subject to master planning, site availability etc.
On its part, the DRA has clarified that necessary extension may be considered in case of situations beyond the control of the SPV.
(Edited by Therese Sudeep)
Read also: Maharashtra revives ‘highly delayed’ Dharavi improvement project, begins process of calling tenders