Mumbai: Of the three contenders who have placed bids for the redevelopment of the 24-acre Bandra Reclamation sprawl, Larsen & Toubro is financially much more stronger than the other two (Adani Realty and Mayfair Housing), the JLL Property Consultants have indicated to the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). JLL is global property consultant for MSRDC.
JLL is currently evaluating the technical and financial capability of the three bidders. At a meeting held on Monday, JLL consultants asked for more time to complete the technical assessment before submitting their final report. “They are likely to give us the report by Thursday. We will discuss it at a meeting thereafter,” a top MSRDC source told the FPJ.
However, it appears that the fight will eventually narrow down to Larsen & Toubro and Adani Realty. Sources said that Mayfair Housing is “financially weaker” than the other two and will have to opt out of the race. Sources within MSRDC, however, categorically maintained that Mayfair Housing has as of now not withdrawn.
The MSRDC bidding process had laid down stringent criteria in the tender document, including a challenging condition that the bidder must have a minimum consolidated net worth of not less than Rs15,000 crore on March 31, 2023. This is a criteria that most developers, sources said, cannot meet in a single entity.
It may be recalled that the pre-bid meet hosted three weeks ago by JLL was attended by 18 top players, including Godrej Properties, Adani Realty, Sunteck Realty, K Raheja Corp, L&T Realty, Wadhwa Group, Runwal, Oberoi Realty, Lodha, Sattva, Phoenix Realty, Sahana Group, JSW, Mahindra Lifespaces, Wellspun and Sumitomo, among others.
3 Top Realtors Had Placed Their Bids For The Mega Project
Last week on Wednesday, when MSRDC opened the online bids for the redevelopment of the Bandra Reclamation parcel, only three top players Adani Realty, Larsen and Toubro and Mayfair Housing had responded and placed bids.
Many on condition of anonymity questioned the eligibility norms in the tendering process. Raising serious concerns, some top builders had had alleged that MSRDC was favouring “one or two big developers” and that the bids were “tailor-made for a select few”.
Kailas Jadhav, Joint MD, MSRDC, said that since the bids were of a revenue sharing model, the developer who offers the maximum percentage of revenue will “be the obvious choice”.
“The biggest of us will find it difficult to meet these norms. Imposing a financial criterion to have Rs15,000 crore net worth in one single entity is restricting the opportunity to one or two builders”, a top builder had said.
Another builder, on condition of anonymity, added that the norms are stringent because the developer is expected to pay Rs8000 crore to MSRDC over a period of nine to 14 years.
