Indian Billionaire to Revamp Mumbai Slum

Gautam Adani has won the bid to develop the world’s largest slum – Dharavi

Controversial Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s real estate unit received the final approval by the state government to start the redevelopment of Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums that is situated in the heart of Mumbai. A representative of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, which oversees the project, confirmed that it was given the go ahead by the Maharashtra state government. A spokesperson for Adani Group declined to comment.

The slum is spread over roughly 620 acres (250 hectares) of potentially prime real estate in the financial capital, which is home to more than 20 million people. Dharavi, made globally famous by the film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, neighbours the Bandra Kurla Complex, an upmarket district of shopping malls, embassies and banks, including offices of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Adani was the highest bidder for the project with a bid of Rs50.7 billion ($620 million) late last year.

Mumbai’s administrators have struggled for decades to modernise the neighbourhood, because of the difficulty of acquiring large tracts of land, attracting investors to a place without stable utilities, and resettling an estimated 1 million people.

Though Adani’s plans for Dharavi are still opaque, he may transform the slum into modern apartments, offices and malls, extending his foothold in India’s financial capital, where he already runs one of the country’s busiest airports. His involvement has been met with protests from local inhabitants, who are concerned that homes and businesses will be relocated far from the city centre. Others fear that they will be shunted into tiny apartments with poor amenities. Adani’s ability to find the money needed for the project has also been questioned.