Now, Dharavi makeover awaits CM nod

MUMBAI: Dharavi makeover may have to wait for a while. The Maharashtra government’s plan to change the face of Asia’s largest slum is awaiting a final clearance from chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, officials of the department of urban development (UD) told ET. Mr Deshmukh holds the UD portfolio and is reportedly studying the draft of an expression of interest (EoI) to be published for inviting global tenders for the plan.

The plan promises Dharavi’s metamorphosis into an urban conglomerate of lower middle-class and middle-class population including a huge chunk of small entrepreneurs. At Rs 5,600 crore, the Dharavi redevelopment plan is the largest-ever project in Maharashtra that would be executed entirely by a private developer at no cost to the government.

NRI developer Mukesh Mehta has authored the Dharavi redevelopment plan. It took Mr Mehta, who has in the past built customised housing units in New York, more than seven years to work out the plan and sell it to the Mantralaya mandarins. “The plan is at a very advanced stage now and things are working out well at different levels of the state government. I am very positive about the plan getting a final clearance very soon,” Mr Mehta said.

Housing secretary S Kshatriya said that the government is busy drafting the final terms and conditions of global tenders. “It will be finalised soon,” Mr Kshatriya said. Global tenders would be invited once the government publishes EoI to carry out the project through a private developer.

Mr Mehta’s proposal was first accepted by the government in January ’04. “Even the project cost has escalated now.

In February ’04 when the government appointed the slum rehabilitation authority as the planning agency for the plan, the cost was estimated to be around Rs 5,600 crore. It will cost a developer around Rs 6,500 crore in today’s context to redevelop Dharavi,” a UD official said.

A clearance by the chief minister would be followed by international advertisement of the plan through publication of EoI. The plan, proposed to be implemented over a period of 7 years, envisages a complete makeover of mammoth Dharavi slums spread over 174 hectares with a population of around 5 lakh. Under the Maharashtra Slum Areas Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment Act, 1971, a developer (even if it is a government agency) has to get written consent from at least 70% of slum dwelling families to carry out a redevelopment plan.

For Dharavi plan, however, the government has brought down this limit to 60%. Under the plan, Dharavi would be divided into nine sectors and all eligible residents would be housed in high-rise buildings that the developer who wins the global bid would construct. As an incentive for vertical development, the government has allowed an FSI of 4 for the plan though it’s 2.5 elsewhere. In return for providing tenements of 225 sq ft each to all eligible Dharavi dwellers, the developer would get a portion of the cleared land for commercial use and transfer of development rights.