Adani Group to redevelop Asia's biggest slum Dharavi

The Adani Group has bagged one of India’s biggest redevelopment projects involving the total makeover of Dharavi, the biggest slum cluster of Asia.

Three companies - Adani Realty, DLF, and Naman Group had submitted bids for the redevelopment of Dharavi and the rehabilitation of slum residents.

“Naman Group did not qualify in the technical bidding. The bid by Adani Realty was for Rs 5,069 crore and DLF was Rs 2,025 crore. We will now further go with the approval from the Maharashtra government and also form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the redevelopment of Dharavi,” SVR Srinivas, Chief Executive Office of Dharavi Redevelopment Project said.

The Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) is one of the major projects of Mumbai which has been pending for a little over two decades.

After the Eknath Shinde-led alliance government came to power, the project has been given a major push and put on fast-track mode.

The definitive agreement for handing over of railway land for DRP was signed between the Rail Land Development Authority and Dharavi Redevelopment Project Authority in the presence of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in New Delhi last month.

The Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) is the nodal agency for the project.

The DRP was approved in 2004, but it has seen several technical issues and delays.

The Dharavi Redevelopment Project spread over 106 hectares. The project was struck due to the non-transfer of 45 acres of Railways-owned land at Matunga, for which the state government paid Rs 800 crore in March 2019.

Sandwiched between the Sion and Matunga stations of Central Railway and Mahim and Bandra stations on the Western Railway, the Dharavi locality is a sort of business-cum-residential-cum-warehouse area, where nearly seven to 10 lakh people stay and work, in an area of 2.1 sq km – making it the biggest slum locality of Asia. The famous Mithi river that empties into the Arabian Sea from the Mahim creek passes by the Dharavi area.

It has several business units’ right from textiles to pottery to fabrication to leather industry. Plastic recycling and garbage segregation too is done here. It has an estimated 5,000 business entities and 15,000 single-room factories. Goods produced here go to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, United States and Europe and several other places.