The Adani Group has emerged as the highest bidder for the 259- hectare Dharavi Redevelopment Project, official sources said. The group has put in a £506.9 million bid for the redevelopment of one of the largest slum sprawls in the world, outbidding DLF, which had quoted £202.5 million, chief executive officer of the project S V R Srinivas said.
"We will now be sending the details to the government, which will consider and give final approval," he said, adding that the Eknath Shinde government will approve it in a couple of weeks.
According to him, the bid is for the entire £2 billion project, with a total project duration of seven years to rehabilitate the 650,000 slum dwellers who are currently dispersed over a 2.5 sq km area.
The project has been in limbo for many years due to its complexity. The winning bidder will be able to book high revenues by selling millions of square feet of residential and commercial space in central Mumbai.
Eight bidders, including entities from South Korea and the UAE, had attended a pre-bid meet held in October and three of them actually bid for the project. Naman Group, a city-based developer, was the third whose bid did not qualify.
The government is likely to consider both technical and financial eligibility before selecting the winning bidder and has set a minimum consolidated net worth requirement of £2 billion.
Adani already has a real estate division in the nation, and it has already completed or is currently completing projects in the nation's financial capital, including ones in the central Mumbai neighbourhood of Byculla and the suburban Ghatkopar.
