Mumbai: The fate of the Dharavi redevelopment project now hangs on the opinion the Advocate General of Maharashtra, hinted Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The government said they will now consult the AG to call for a fresh tender. Fadnavis informed the House, previously, several tenders have been issued for Dharavi development project, but there were no takers. "After this we devised a Special Purpose Vehicle Model to issue tenders. A high power committee was set up and finally, two bidders are in the race for this project.
By the time the tender process was over, the state government learnt, there are 45 acres of unused railway land available in Dharavi. This land can be used to construct transit homes which will help us to vacate the existing land parcel for redevelopment," said Fadnavis. The government followed up with the railway ministry and offered them to purchase this land by paying Rs 800 crores. However, Fadnavis admitted, new issues have cropped up. "When the tender was issued there was no decision for purchasing 45 acres. We have mentioned in the bidding conditions that the successful bidder will have to pay for the cost of the land. As per no post tender deviation is allowed. Therefore we will seek the opinion of the AG whether to continue with the current tender process or or a new one is to be issued. If the AG favours the reissuance of tender, we will proceed,” said CM.
