The Maharashtra government has invited global tenders to redevelop Dharavi, one of the largest slums in Asia, into an integrated township under a Rs 22,000-crore project.

Maharashtra’s Slum Redevelopment Authority (SRA) put out advertisements in newspapers, stating that the last date for submitting the bids for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) is December 28.

The state government has been planning Dharavi’s redevelopment since 2004, but nothing has materialised so far due to the multiplicity of stakeholders occupying the 535 acres of prime land in the heart of Mumbai.

According to the guidelines, the selected lead partner will have to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with 80 per cent equity (Rs 400 crore) and the Maharashtra government will hold the rest of the equity in the project.

The SPV will construct free houses for eligible slum dwellers and will also be entitled to construct houses for sale in the open market. The state government has fixed a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 4 for the project. FSI is the ratio between the built-up space to the area of land on which a building stands.

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