Panel will push for fresh bids for Dharavi project

MUMBAI: The

redevelopment of Dharavi

is unlikely anytime soon. The empowered committee of secretaries has decided to recommend the retendering of the

Dharavi redevelopment project

. The committee's meeting was held on Thursday at Mantralaya and along with chief secretary Sanjay Kumar, it was attended by Ajoy Mehta, principal advisor to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. The other secretaries present were from the urban development and housing departments, and the BMC commissioner, MMRDA commissioner and SRA chief were also present.

"The government will finally decide whether to accept the recommendation of the committee of secretaries to retender the

Dharavi project

as advised by the advocate general," said Mantralaya sources.

In June last year, the committee of secretaries had sought the opinion of the advocate general on whether the project should be retendered as the railway land cost was added after the bids were submitted. In response to questions raised by the CoS, advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni had recommended cancelling of the bids received and inviting of fresh bids.

In March last year, the then BJP-Sena government signed an agreement with railways for 45 acres of its land at Dadar and upfront paid Rs 800 crore. "The balance Rs 200 crore is to be paid after the Centre hands over physical possession of the land and a formal agreement is signed between railways and state," said sources.

Chief secretary Sanjay Kumar has written three letters to the Centre asking for the land to be handed over, but there has been no response, sources said. Rather, the Centre has raised issues of other payments. "It has been pointed out that as per the agreement, there is no other payment to be made. We have had an exchange of letters on issues raised by Centre, but they are not significant. In all these communications the Centre has not conveyed it will not hand over the land. When fresh tenders are invited, railway land will be a part of it," sources said. Another source said, "The railway land is vital to redevelopment. Dharavi's

redevelopment

needs to be carried out urgently basis especially in light of the pandemic."

In January last year, the estimated Rs 26,000 crore project had received two bids from Dubai-based M/s SecLink Technologies Corporation and M/s Adani Infrastructure and Developers Pvt Ltd. As against a base price of Rs 3,150 crore SecLink quoted Rs 7,500 crore and the Adani bid was Rs 4,529 crore. The bid was headed SecLink's way, but the CoS which was to announce its decision in a week decided to defer it.


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.