The Rs. 15,000-crore project covers over 535 acres of land in the heart of Mumbai, a most coveted workable area for the developers only two years back. As many as 27 famed builders struggled hard to be short-listed for submission of presentations and 19 got selected.
The operation involves 70 million sq. ft. of construction with an offer of 1.33 sq. ft. of saleable space to the developer for every square foot built by him to rehabilitate the residents. But the whole scheme now seems to be losing its attraction.
The idea behind the project was to transform Dharavi into a modern integrated township with state-of-the-art facilities weaved into the state government’s process to implement its Mumbai-to-Shanghai makeover plan. The concept was marketed as “the opportunity of the millennium.” Not only a township but the other goal was free-of-cost rehabilitation of all the eligible slum dwellers (those registered in the 1995 electoral rolls) in self-contained 225 sq.ft tenements constructed by developers.
Hence the project was an alluring proposition for the realtors. But ironically, when the Dharavi Devlopment Authority, the agency in charge of the project, invited the short-listed bidders to submit their proposed presentation recently, most of them developed cold feet. These included bigwigs like HDIL, Reliance Engineering Associates and Godrej Properties, along with L& T.
Only two consortiums, one led by Emaar MGF Land Ltd.,and the other a JV between DB Realty Ltd and its subsidiary Conwood Agencies Pvt. Ltd. made their presentations but were not too sure about going ahead. The consortium of Mumbai-based realty firm, Runwal Group, and Singapore’s Capitaland Group too were undecided. Meanwhile, the status of the bid of a JV between Mumbai’s Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd and investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is also unclear. However, DDA has asked HDIL about its plans to go ahead now that its partner has filed for bankruptcy. Potential Group, a Canada-based real estate firm, is also out of the project.
Most of the developers, who opted out after the initial enthusiasm, argued that time was not conducive for a huge and expensive project like Dharavi. Cash-strapped realtors now cannot raise the necessary money and even the major players are unable to make financial commitments at the moment.
Meanwhile, Akruti City, which had entered the race with Limitless, has now joined hands with DLF for a consortium for this project. According to the company, it has informed the Dharavi Authority that DLF has replaced Limitless as their partner. In the meantime, the agency had asked Akruti to send a formal, written note confirming the new partnership.
