Global bids again for Dharavi redevelopment….Madhurima Nandy
Government to invite fresh bids to select a project management consultant that would advise MHADA
Government to invite fresh bids to select a project management consultant that would advise MHADA
After failing to attract competitive bids to develop Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums, Maharashtra has now decided that a state agency will rebuild a portion of it with help from a project management consultant.
The state government has scrapped a global bidding process started in 2007 and has asked the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), which builds low-cost houses, to redevelop a portion of the shanty town.
The government will also soon invite fresh global bids to select a project management consultant that would advise MHADA. The consultant will be expected to prepare a redevelopment plan for Sector 5 of Dharavi, which alone has some 10,000 tenements. This project is likely to cost Rs.2,200 crore and take 5-7 years to complete.
The redevelopment of the entire 535 acres of Dharavi, which is home to 60,000 people, could cost as much as Rs.15,000 crore.
“Dharavi will be redeveloped as an integrated township in a sustainable manner to ensure that the residents are mainstreamed and the neighbourhood becomes a landmark close to the developed commercial district of Bandra-Kurla Complex,” said Satish Gavai, vice-president, Mhada.
Dharavi shanties are planned to be demolished and replaced with flats in high-rise blocks for the slum dwellers, who will be rehabilitated free of cost, and the land subsequently freed will be used for building additional apartments that will be sold in the open market.
The project was put on the back-burner in 2009, after inviting bids from developers in June 2007. The economic downturn in 2008 saw a stream of bidders opting out due to the huge investments required. Finally, there were six bidders left in the fray for the five sectors of Dharavi and the process was terminated due to lack of competition.
Mhada said funding for the project would not be an obstacle. “Initially, MHADA will invest in the project from its own resources, and once the rehabilitation of slum dwellers is partly completed, the tenements for sale would be constructed or the plots so cleared could be sold in the open market that would fetch substantial revenues,” said Gavai.
There are other challenges as well. There is still a controversy over the criteria for making slum dwellers eligible for the rehabilitation project. The government so far has said slum dwellers who had settled in Dharavi before 2000 are eligible.“This is 2011, and there have been large numbers of families who have moved into slums such as Dharavi, and it would be difficult to leave out those people,” said Jockin Arputham, president, National Slum Dwellers’ Federation.
Experts point to the Mumbai international airport project, another large slum redevelopment project, which ran into rough weather over the eligibility criteria for slum dwellers. MHADA’s track record, too, doesn’t inspire confidence, an expert said.
“MHADA has largely done only housing projects and has received enough criticism for the quality and for inefficiency in execution,” said an analyst, who declined to be named. “While private developers would have been eyeing commercial benefits from the project, better execution would have been guaranteed.”
“Considering the government will be duty-bound to offer accommodation to the thousands of slum dwellers instead of treating it entirely commercially, MHADA would be able to execute, though it should be remembered that this would be the first attempt to redevelop such a unique slum scheme.” said Chandrasekhar Prabhu, an expert in urban housing issues and a former president of MHADA.