The ambitious project to transform Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum in the heart of Mumbai, has been kickstarted with the government issuing the Commencement Certificate (CC), granting the Adani Group-led company approval to begin construction on the railway land parcel.
With this key approval, the first phase of the rehabilitation project involving over a million people will begin on a 6.4-acre land parcel in central Mumbai’s Matunga west and this will have to be completed over the next seven years.
The company undertaking the project, Navbharat Mega Developers Pvt Ltd (NMDPL) or erstwhile Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt Ltd (DRPPL), will construct a modern housing complex for railway employees and the first phase of rehabilitation for Dharavi residents on this land parcel. This will also have a component of commercial development for Dharavi residents.
This marks the actual beginning of construction work for the $3 billion mega project covering nearly 600 acres of prime land in the country’s financial capital.
“We have received the Commencement Certificate for the first phase of the project on the part of railway land and will now begin the actual construction work of Dharavi rehabilitation,” SVR Srinivas, CEO of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) / the Slum Rehabilitation Authority, Government of Maharashtra, told ET.
An Adani Group entity holds 80% stake in NMDPL and the government of Maharashtra controls the balance 20% stake.
The said 6.4-acre plot is part of a 27.6-acre land parcel, including scrapyard land near Mahim railway station, received from the Railway authority in March. This in turn is part of a total 45-acre sought from the authority for this project.
NMDPL has paid Rs 1,000 crore to the railways for the 45-acre land and an additional Rs 2,800 crore will be paid after 17 years through minimum revenue sharing from the proceeds of the Dharavi redevelopment project. This entire land is likely to be allotted in a phased manner.
Dharavi accommodates over 850,000 residents, and when considering the transient population, this figure surpasses 1 million. With a staggering population density of 354,167 per sq km, it is the most overcrowded zone in Mumbai, which itself ranks as the world’s sixth most densely populated.
In November 2022, Adani Properties, the real estate development company owned by Gautam Adani-led Adani Group, with its Rs 5,069-crore bid had emerged as the highest bidder to bag the rights to redevelop the slum.
To kick start the process, the company had roped in international city and infrastructure planning experts to reimagine one of the world’s largest and most dynamic informal settlements and prepare a masterplan for the same.
NMDPL has partnered with US-based interdisciplinary design firm Sasaki, UK-headquartered international consultancy firm Buro Happold and architect Hafeez Contractor for the project. Both–Sasaki and Buro Happold–are renowned entities in the field of urban planning and infrastructure engineering. In addition to these, experts from Singapore have also joined the project team.
