Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani's joint venture with Mumbai's slum rehabilitation authority has hired a global team to redevelop Dharavi, a key step in rebuilding one of Asia's biggest slums amid growing opposition to the project.
The joint venture, Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt Ltd (DRPPL), said it was partnering with architect Hafeez Contractor who has done many social housing projects, US design firm Sasaki, and consultancy firm Buro Happold from the UK for the redevelopment.
Dharavi, about three quarters the size of New York's Central Park, is a crowded area that houses thousands of poor families in cramped quarters in the centre of Mumbai. Many residents have no access to running water or clean toilets.
Rebuilding it is a mammoth task, which was first mooted in the 1980s. Maharashtra government in July 2023 approved Adani's $619 million bid to redevelop the area that covers 625 acres (253 hectares), and has been described by officials as "the world's largest urban renewal scheme".
Last month, DRPPL said the Dharavi slum redevelopment project was awarded to it by the previous Congress-Shiv Sena coalition government (Maha Vikas Aghadi or MVA) through a fair and open international bidding. DRPPL had said financial conditions, including the obligations and incentives, were known to all bidders and had not changed for the awardee.
