Panel suggests sector-wise bidding for Dharavi revamp

The bidding for five sectors into which the 535-acre Dharavi slum will be divided for redevelopment will take place one sector at a time.

The bidding for five sectors into which the 535-acre Dharavi slum will be divided for redevelopment will take place one sector at a time.

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A panel constituted by Chief Minister Ashok Chavan to facilitate the implementation of the scheme has decided to retain the five-sector redevelopment model and invite bids for individual sectors instead of the entire project.

The panel decided this during its concluding meeting on Monday.

“We will invite bids for one sector at a time to rule out the formation of developer cartels and to hasten the project,” said an official requesting anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The idea is also to tackle the pulling out of developers from the project. Only seven of the original 19 are participating in it now.

In the first round of bidding, all interested parties will bid for one sector. Once the bid for the first sector is awarded, the second sector will go for bidding. The Dharavi Redevelopment Authority (DRA), the apex body for implementing the project, will be told to identify sectors that have shown least resistance to redevelopment. These will be put up for bidding first.

The panel also rejected the plan of dividing the slum into smaller sectors. “We have ruled out the other option of redeveloping it in smaller sectors within the existing five. It would have just delayed the project further,” said an official requesting anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The panel’s report will first be approved by Chief Secretary J. P. Dange and then be forwarded to Chavan.

The panel, headed by Dange, includes secretaries of finance, urban development, housing and Slum Rehabilitation Authority.

The Dharavi redevelopment project hit a major roadblock when the preliminary eligibility survey found that 63 per cent of the residents were not eligible for rehabilitation because they had moved in after 2000 and did not have relevant documents.

Sources said that structures built before the year 2000 will be regularised.

This means any structure built before 2000 will be eligible for rehabilitation irrespective of the year when the buyer purchased the structure.

The initial cost of developing Dharavi by dividing it into five sectors was Rs 6,000 crore. It has since escalated to Rs 15,000 crore. The project was also affected by the economic slump.