As Adani wins makeover bid, a quick guide to Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum

Mumbai’s Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum cluster, is all set to be redeveloped by Adani Realty, the real estate arm of Adani Group, which has bagged the Rs 20,000 crore slum redevelopment project, with a bid of ₹5,069 crore against DLF’s Rs 2,025 crore offer. The government’s stipulated minimum initial investment was Rs 1,600 crore.

Financial bids for the global tender floated on October 1 for the Dharavi redevelopment project were opened on Tuesday (November 29). The bids for the project were submitted by three companies: Adani Realty, DLF and Naman Group. According to the Dharavi Redevelopment Authority, Naman group did not qualify.

“We will move further with the approval from the state government and also form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the redevelopment of Dharavi,” SVR Srinivas, Chief Executive Office of Dharavi Redevelopment Project,” told PTI, adding that the Eknath Shinde government will approve it in a couple of weeks.

The government has already announced a floor space index (FSI) of 4 for the redevelopment along with several concessions in the form of a premium paid by the developer, inspection charges, Goods and Service Tax etc. The notification issued by the Maharashtra government’s housing department in October had said the bidding company or lead member of the consortium shall have a minimum consolidated net worth of Rs 20,000 crore as per the latest balance sheet and such balance sheet shall not be earlier than March 31, 2022.

Dharavi redevelopment project

Dharavi is located in Central Mumbai in close proximity to the commercial hub, Bandra Kurla Complex, and south Mumbai. Spread across 300 acres, it is one of the most densely populated slums in the world. The slum sprawl is a hub for several small-scale, unorganised industries that manufacture medicines, leather, footwear, and clothes, and employ over 1,00,000 people.

The proposals for Dharavi redevelopment plans have come out periodically since 1950. However, most of these plans failed because of a lack of financial banking and/or political support. In the last 15 years, the Maharashtra government made at least four attempts by floating bids for the slum redevelopment. However, the bids never materialised. Finally, the project is all set to take off now.

Also read: Adani bags Dharavi redevelopment project in Mumbai with Rs 5,069 cr bid

The bid is for the entire Rs 20,000-crore project, which will help the winning bidder to book high revenues by selling lakhs of square foot of residential and commercial space in central Mumbai. The Maharashtra government has proposed to transform the slum into a modern township, with proper housing and shopping complexes, hospitals and schools.

The government hopes to finish the project in the next 17 years and rehabilitate the 6.5 lakh slum dwellers who are spread over 2.5 sq km area right now in the next seven years. Overall, more than 10 million square feet is expected to come up as part of the Dharavi redevelopment project.

Dharavi: A city within a city

Mumbai, India’s commercial capital and home of Bollywood films, is one of the most densely populated megacities in the world, particularly the Island City sector where the population density stands at 43,000 people per square kilometre.

Almost 21 million people lived in Mumbai in 2022, compared to less than 16 million in 2002. The Dharavi slum, a city within a city, came into being in 1884. An unending maze of narrow dirty lanes, ramshackle buildings, cramped huts and shanties, and open sewers, it was originally inhabited by fisherfolk, when the area was still creeks, swamps.

Dharavi became attractive to migrant workers from South Mumbai and others when the swamp began to fill in due to natural and artificial causes. The area grew as poor rural Indians migrated to urban Mumbai. While the land on which it is sprawled is owned by the government, the houses are maintained by individuals.

Cheap, affordable option

The unplanned squatter settlement lies between two railway lines on low-lying land, previously used as a rubbish tip. It is now home to over 6 lakh people. Many of them are second-generation residents whose parents moved in years ago. In a city where house rents are among the highest in the world, Dharavi provides a cheap and affordable option to those who move to Mumbai to earn their living. Rents here can be as low as Rs 185 per month, according to Lonely Planet.

Also read: WHO lauds Dharavi for effective COVID management, BMC says ‘thank you’

The slum, like many others, lacks provisions for sanitation, drains, safe drinking water, roads or other basic services. Dharavi has suffered from many epidemics and other disasters, including a widespread plague in 1896, which killed over half of the population of Mumbai. The coronavirus pandemic, which has wreaked havoc across more than 200 countries, including India, also affected the slum. Over 138 people tested positive for the virus by April 20, 2020, and more than 11 died. In May 2022, Dharavi’s overall tally of Covid-19 cases reached 8,653, while its death toll stood at 419, according to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

The film industry has played a key role in bringing this slum to prominence. It was featured in films like the Oscar-winning Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire (2009) and Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy (2018). Dharavi plays host to tourists who want a whiff of what life is like for slum-dwellers in India.

Tourists are taken on tours through the narrow alleyways of the slum to showcase the hot business hub that it has become over the past few years. The sprawling Dharavi became the favourite tourist experience of 2019 in India and even beat the Taj Mahal, according to the travel site TripAdvisor. Dharavi grabbed TripAdvisor’s award after it came tenth on the top 10 Travellers’ Choice Experiences 2019 in Asia.