SRA floats tender for Vakola slum rdvpt project stalled for 39 years
Efforts to redevelop the colony were initiated at least 39 years ago, but the project was stalled owing to a dispute between builders, lack of interest among developers and cancellation of an earlier contract
Mumbai: The Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) has floated a tender inviting bids for the redevelopment of Om Namo Sujalam Sufalam Society, a slum colony in Santacruz East comprising nearly 1,000 tenements including residential and commercial units. Efforts to redevelop the colony were initiated at least 39 years ago, but the project was stalled owing to a dispute between builders, lack of interest among developers and cancellation of an earlier contract.
Situated right next to the Western Express Highway and close to the Bandra Kurla Complex commercial district, the land parcel occupied by the colony measures 21,882.15 square metres (sq mt) – 16,072.07 sq mt is covered by tenements while the balance 5,810.08 sq mt is open land. According to the tender, the total built up area of the redeveloped structure can be four times the plot area.
The colony has 697 residential, 27 commercial and 15 industrial tenements, in addition to 128 apartments in two buildings constructed by the slum dwellers themselves in the late 1990s. It also has four balwadis, four welfare centres, nien society offices, eight social amenities and one community hall.
The new developer – who will be chosen three days after bidding closes on December 20 – would have to rehabilitate the owners of all the 990 structures. It would not need to obtain consent from a majority of tenement owners, though, because the SRA itself has floated the bid, said a senior SRA official.
Inhabitants of the slum colony decided to go in for redevelopment in 1985 and began looking for a developer to execute the project. Unable to find one for over a decade, in the 1990s, 128 tenement owners developed two buildings of their own accord under the self-development mode, while the remaining tenements remained intact. Subsequently, two developers – Susme Builders and J G Developers – got involved in the redevelopment project, leading to litigation. In 2018, the supreme court removed both companies from the project and directed the SRA to float a bid with the deadline for project completion set at two years.
Accordingly, also in 2018, the SRA floated a bid – it’s first ever for a redevelopment project – but failed to find any takers as the bank guarantee of ₹200-crore was considered very steep. The guarantee was subsequently revised to ₹20 crore and the redevelopment project was awarded to a joint venture between DB Realty and Keystone Realtors that same year. But the award was cancelled post pandemic as the firm had failed to commence work on the project.
In June 2022, the SRA floated a fresh tender but failed to find any bidders. It then approached the court, saying the project deadline of two years was unfeasible, and seeking an extension. Though the SRA’s petition was rejected, the inhabitants later moved the apex court with the same plea. This October, the court accepted their plea and extended the deadline to 46 months.
Accordingly, the deadline mentioned in the latest tender is 46 months instead of the earlier 24 months. The bank guarantee too has been kept at ₹20 crore and only those developers who have executed projects worth ₹200 crore and above are eligible to participate.