Mumbai: The Adani Group has emerged as the highest bidder for the 259-hectare Dharavi Redevelopment Project. Confirming the development, project CEO SVR Srinivas told ThePrint that the financial bids were opened Tuesday.
The conglomerate, led by billionaire Gautam Adani, submitted a bid of Rs 5,069 crore for the redevelopment of Dharavi — considered to be one of Asia’s largest slum clusters —whereas the second highest bid of Rs 2,025 crore came from DLF, Srinivas said.
“This will remain open to scrutiny for another couple of weeks. The decision will be made based on examination of the documents but technically (technical bids) they are qualified and financially they are the highest,” Srinivas added.
The project, which has undergone several failed rounds of tendering since its inception in 2004, had drawn three bids. The third one by Naman Group did not meet the qualification criteria.
This bid is for the entire project, estimated at Rs 20,000 crore, to be completed in seven years. It will entail the rehabilitation of over 6.5 lakh residents of Dharavi.
The government had sought a consolidated net worth of a minimum of Rs 20,000 crore (the total project cost) to choose the winning bid, and is likely to evaluate both technical and financial eligibility before awarding it to the highest bidder.
The Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra decided to revive the much-delayed Dharavi project in September this year and approved fresh global bids, hoping to take it off the drawing board 19 years after it was first conceived.
The Slum Rehabilitation Authority, under which the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Authority is constituted, floated global tenders to hire a bid process management consultant who will evaluate the tenders received for the project.
The technical bids were closed in October and after scrutiny, the Adani Group and DLF were selected to place the financial bids.
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