Mumbai: The Gautam Adani group has bagged the mega project for the redevelopment of Motilal Nagar spread over 143 acres in Goregaon (W). Adani's offer of Rs 36,000 crore was the highest and it was accepted when the bids were opened on Tuesday by Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority (MHADA).
A MHADA official told FPJ that construction major Larsen & Toubro was the second highest bidder. After bagging the Dharavi redevelopment project, Adani has made yet another successful bid in the Mumbai real estate market. "It is only a matter of time before Adani emerges are the biggest player in the Mumbai real estate market," a city builder observed.
The Motilal Nagar project is likely to shake the real estate market in the western suburbs where there are several major builders in action. Incidentally, India's biggest builder DLF Pvt Ltd is expected to enter the Mumbai market later this month with a project in Andheri.
Motilal Nagar essentially comprises of small chawl-type houses spread over a vast area and it is occupied by the lower-middle class. Adani Properties Pvt Ltd (APPL) emerged as the highest bidder, offering more built-up area than its nearest rival, L&T, sources aware of the matter said.
The Bombay High Court only last week gave the go-ahead to MHADA go-ahead to redevelop Motilal Nagar through a construction and development agency (C&DA).
The state government has declared it as a 'special project', with MHADA retaining control over it but working through a C&DA in the absence of the necessary potential to accomplish the work, based on economic viability and its capability.
In Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt Ltd (now called Navbharat Mega Developers Pvt Ltd), Adani Group held an 80 per cent stake while the rest was with the state government.
The total estimated redevelopment cost of Motilal Nagar is around Rs 36,000 crore, and the rehabilitation period is seven years from the project start/commencement date.
As per tender conditions for Motilal Nagar redevelopment, C&DA must give a housing stock of 3.83 million square meters. APPL won the bid by agreeing to hand over 3.97 million sq mt to MHADA. The other qualified bidder, L&T quoted the figure of 2.6 million sq mt.
MHADA retains full control over the project, including ownership of the land. It tendered for the redevelopment due to its own financial and technical limitations in handling such a large-scale redevelopment.
The private developer cannot mortgage the land, raise finance on it, or sell/transfer rights without MHADA's permission, according to the tender conditions. This protects MHADA residents, slum dwellers and prevents misuse of redevelopment right.
The selected C&DA will be responsible for the entire redevelopment process, including design, approvals, construction, infrastructure development, and rehabilitation.
The project will rehabilitate 3,372 residential units eligible under MHADA, 328 eligible commercial units and 1,600 eligible slum tenements as per the 1971 Slum Act.
Last week, the Bombay High Court's division bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Bharati Dangre upheld MHADA's decision to carry out redevelopment through C&DA for integrated development of the whole layout.
The court observed that each cooperative society would look solely to the personal interest of itself and its members and likely appoint a developer to undertake a narrow and limited development of its land/buildings. This would not be in the interest of orderly planning and infrastructural development. It would also expose each society and its occupants to the exigencies of commercial developments by developers.
It added that only holistic redevelopment can provide a long-term solution to the problem of flooding and waterlogging faced by the occupants of Motilal Nagar, which cannot be resolved by piecemeal redevelopment of separate parcels of land. (With inputs from PTI)