State Cabinet wants fresh bids for Dharavi redevelopment

In the pipeline for the past 16 years, the redevelopment of Dharavi will get a new avatar, through a fresh tendering process. The state cabinet on Thursday decided to scrap the previous government's decision, and invite fresh bids, as recommended by a panel of senior secretaries.

The erstwhile BJP-Sena government had taken a decision on October 16, 2018 to finalise the redevelopment process, which was delayed for several reasons in the past. The Dubai-based Seclink Technologies Corporation, backed by the royal family of the UAE, had emerged as the highest bidder. The only other bidder in the tender was the Adani Group.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government chose to revise the process and asked senior bureaucrats to study it under the chief secretary's leadership. The panel submitted its report in August recommending the scrapping of tendering. The BJP government had succeeded in taking 45 acres of railway land for the project, but this acquisition created a legal problem.

The state's advocate general had opined that fresh tenders needed to be called for, as the costs of the railway land and rehabilitation were added later and not incorporated in the original tender document.

Under the proposed redevelopment, 67,000 families living in Dharavi are expected to get 350 sq ft houses. The residents' associations had petitioned the government to avoid further delay in the project and not go for fresh bidding.

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