FRESH BID TO BUILD A TOWNSHIP IN DHARAVI

MUMBAI:After five failed attempts in 2016 with no bidders to redevelop four sectors of Dharavi — India’s largest slum — Dharavi Redevelopment Authority (DRA) has come up with a proposal to divide these four sectors to 13 sub-clusters and float tenders for the same.

In view of the real estate slowdown, builders are not in a position to bid for big sectors. “Our feedback says we may get bidders for smaller sub clusters,” said a senior DRA officer who did not wish to come on record.

Last year, the ₹22,000 crore global tender to revamp 178 hectares of the slum fell flat as it got no bidders all five times. Hence, the DRA has now decided to go the sub-cluster route.

Pankaj Kapoor, CEO, Liases Foras, a real estate research firm, also seconded the sub cluster formula on the grounds that the monetary position of the real estate sector is not good.

To create a plush township in place of dense slums, Dharavi was divided into five sectors. One sector was handed over to Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority.

The remaining four sectors will now be subdivided into 13 parts and tenders will be floated for each separately. The builder will need to rehabilitate the slum dwellers in his sub sector besides laying out the entire infrastructure such as roads and drainage lines.

However, resident associations are not convinced and have accused the DRA of “giving false promises” but not doing anything “substantial”.

“From the last 13 years, we are just given promises of shifting to a new environment, but nothing substantial has been achieved to date.

Instead of a fixed concrete programme, all we see are experiments,” rued Raju Kode, President, Dharavi Bachao Samiti.

The Dharavi revamp faced several problems since its inception in 2004.