Adani Group offers larger homes to woo Dharavi slum residents

Billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate will give homes to residents in Mumbai’s Dharavi that are 17% larger than comparable projects, as the Indian tycoon starts the process of redeveloping the country’s largest slum.

Eligible residents in the slum cluster — defined as those living in tenements that existed before January 1, 2000 — will get houses, with a kitchen and built-in toilet, measuring at least 350 square feet (32.5 square meters), Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt. said in a statement Monday. Ineligible residents will get homes in other parts of the city, it said, without giving more details.

These are the largest homes offered by any slum redevelopment project in Mumbai, according to the statement by the closely held firm that’s a joint venture between the Adani Group and the Maharashtra state government.

Pedestrians at a market in the Dharavi district in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, January 5, 2023. Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s plans to revamp Mumbai’s famed Dharavi slum, one of the world’s largest urban renewal projects.

Past slum redevelopment projects in the state of Maharashtra gave 269-square-feet houses before 2018 that later went up to 322-square-feet tenements.

The offer of large homes by the ports-to-power conglomerate aims to woo Dharavi residents and ward off any potential protests or disruptions. Redeveloping Dharavi, where eight people at times live in a 100-square-feet shanty and 80 share a toilet, is going to test Adani’s project execution abilities.

The controversial slum, that was the backdrop of the Hollywood film Slumdog Millionaire,  is spread over roughly 620 acres (250 hectares) of prime real estate in India’s financial capital. It’s already facing some legal wrangles and political protests and will need the consent of slum dwellers.

Adani Group is partnering with Indian architect Hafeez Contractor, design firm Sasaki of the US, and UK-based consultancy firm Buro Happold to redevelop Dharavi.