Adani invests Rs 2,000 cr in Dharavi project; construction in 6-8 months

The Adani Group is investing Rs 2,000 crore in the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP), Asia’s biggest slum redevelopment initiative spread across 640 acres in Mumbai. Work on the joint venture project of Gautam Adani’s Adani Group and the Maharashtra government is scheduled to begin in about six to eight months.

The Adani Group has been the lead partner of the joint venture, after winning the bid in 2022 and getting an approval for the project last year. The group will build residential and commercial units as part of the redevelopment of Dharavi.

The project marks the start of what Gautam Adani described as a “new chapter of pride and purpose” in a blog post titled ‘Dharavi — A Human-Centric Transformation’ on adani.com.

“It is a historic opportunity for us to create a new Dharavi of dignity, safety and inclusiveness,” he wrote.

“We will also create a state-of-the-art world-class city, which will reflect a resurgent, self-assured, growing India finding its new place on the global stage as the 21st century belongs to India,” he added.

Adani mentioned there were a few rudimentary challenges in executing the mammoth plan of action.

“As we embark on this completely uncharted journey, I am aware of the colossal challenges ahead. Even in comparison with Singapore’s trailblazing project to resolve its housing crisis in the 1960s, Dharavi is a unique project in a league of its own for three reasons:

“Firstly, it is one of the world’s largest urban resettlement and regeneration projects. Approximately a million people will be rehabilitated and resettled.

“Secondly, rehabilitation entails the resettlement of not only the residential units but also of diverse establishments of various sizes and scales dealing with trading, shopping and other business transactions. The entire ecosphere and business fabric of diverse and distinct trades thriving in Dharavi will be rehabilitated and rehoused.

“Thirdly, the project will aim for comprehensive and holistic redevelopment as it caters to the housing and rehabilitation needs of both eligible and ineligible residents,” he wrote.

While resettlement was the primary goal, Adani also focussed on the issue of livelihood for the residents of Dharavi, saying the promotion of “new age jobs with a special focus on youth and women” was important.

“Apart from resettlement, livelihood is a big challenge. I intend to transform Dharavi into a modern city hub by looking at ways and means to support and strengthen existing micro enterprises and small industries and by promoting new age jobs with a special focus on youth and women. This will be achieved using a multi- pronged strategy with the help of sectoral experts and civil society. It could be a combination of training centres focused on upskilling, common facility centres for product-based as well as service-based entrepreneurship models, R&D centres, data centres, MSME help desks, etc. Another important element could be the creation of organised and systemic marketplaces in line with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC),” Adani said in his post.

Meanwhile, the Dharavi Redevelopment Authority has already paid Rs 1,000 crore for 27 acres of land that they obtained from the railways for the project. Currently, the Authority is conducting a survey to get an idea of the exact number of houses in Dharavi.

In all, around 15,000 to 20,000 units will be built as part of the joint venture between the Adani Group and the Maharashtra government.

Residents who have been living in Dharavi since January 1, 2000, or before and at present occupy ground floor dwellings will be allotted a free apartment in the locality.

Residents who moved in between January 1, 2000, and January 1, 2011, will be given homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in Mumbai, for an amount of Rs 2.5 lakh.

Residents who moved in after January 1, 2011, and occupy homes above ground floor will be considered ineligible. There is, however, provision of accommodation on rent for these people, with the option of buying on a hire purchase basis.