Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis criticized Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, stating the Mumbai civic body election is a fight for their political survival. He also defended development projects and economic growth under the current government.
India's leading conglomerates are stepping up investments in real estate, recasting what was once a peripheral activity into a core growth driver. Supported by strong balance sheets, established brands and access to long-term capital, major business houses including Aditya Birla, Tata, Godrej, L&T, Raymond, Wadia, Shapoorji Pallonji, Mahindra and Adani are positioning realty as a strategic pillar within their diversified portfolios.
The Mahayuti alliance has released its manifesto for the upcoming Mumbai civic elections, promising technology-led governance, concessions for women, and addressing issues like illegal immigration and infrastructure.
Apart from recruiting 18,000 women in state's police force, Thackeray said all female police stations will also be established in Maharashtra.
The ongoing survey for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project has surpassed the scope of the 2007-08 survey, with over 63,000 tenements already mapped. The survey, which includes ground floor and upper floor structures, aims to provide housing for all residents of Dharavi, including those in existing SRA buildings and on RLDA Land. The project, undertaken by Navbharat Mega Developers Private Limited (NMDPL), aims to construct nearly 1.5 lakh tenements to accommodate the growing population of Dharavi.
Thackeray wondered whether the state government was trying to favour the Adani Group at the cost of residents of Dharavi, a sprawling slum colony.
After the Dharavi slum redevelopment project, billionaire Gautam Adani's group has emerged as the highest bidder for the Rs 36,000 crore redevelopment of Motilal Nagar in Mumbai, sources said. Motilal Nagar I, II & III is one of Mumbai's biggest housing redevelopment projects, covering 143 acres in western suburb of Goregaon (W).
Gaikwad, who was Dharavi MLA before being elected to the Lok Sabha in the 2024 general polls, also alleged the redevelopment project was real estate's biggest scam.
Representatives of Citizen and Society Development Welfare, who have given the slogan of Dharavi Banao Andolan, met Srinivas and submitted a memorandum seeking expedition of the survey being conducted in Dharavi.
'Dharavi will be completely slum free by 2040'
Dharavi resident advocate Sandip Katake alleged the project would be the world's biggest land scam.
The multi-crore Dharavi slum redevelopment project involves no land transfer to the Adani group but to the Maharashtra government's departments, and the Ahmedabad-based conglomerate, as a project developer, will build houses that will be handed over to the same departments for allotment to residents of Asia's biggest slums, sources said. Denying allegations of land grab made by MP Varsha Gaikwad, sources close to the project said land parcels are to be transferred only to Dharavi Redevelopment Project/Slum Rehabilitation Authority (DRP/SRA) of the state government's housing department.
Despite Dharavi being located in the Mumbai North Central constituency and Mahalaxmi Racecourse in South Mumbai, the issues have caught the attention of all parties and their candidates.
The Adani Group, which won the Dharavi Redevelopment Project from the state government last year, on Monday said it has onboarded three city planners, including Hafeez Contractor, to present a draft redevelopment plan for the largest slum cluster in Asia. In a statement, the group, which has promised to invest Rs 21,000 crore in the first phase, has roped in world famous architect Hafeez Contractor, design firm Sasaki, and consultancy firm Buro Happold as city and infrastructure planners for the project.
Adani Properties Pvt Ltd (APPL) has emerged as the highest bidder for the redevelopment of Motilal Nagar in Mumbai, offering more built-up area than its nearest rival, L&T. This will be the second mega redevelopment project of Adani Group in Mumbai, after the Dharavi slum redevelopment project. 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. The project will rehabilitate 3,372 residential units eligible under MHADA, 328 eligible commercial units and 1,600 eligible slum tenements.
Billionaire Gautam Adani on Wednesday shared a personal note on the development of Dharavi in Mumbai, days after the Maharashtra government issued a resolution to award the Dharavi redevelopment project to his conglomerate on July 14. In the note shared with the media, Adani said his first tryst with Dharavi in Mumbai was in the late 1970s, and the slum settlement continues to amaze and inspire the billionaire to date. "When this opportunity to renew Dharavi came calling, I seized it with both hands," he said.
Citing news reports, Ramesh said they have "exposed" in considerable detail how the process was manipulated to help the Adanis.
Billionaire Gautam Adani's group is in advanced talks to acquire real estate company Emaar India for an enterprise value of around $1.4-1.5 billion as it looks to expand its property business, according to sources. Dubai-based Emaar Properties entered the Indian real estate market in 2005 in partnership with India's MGF Development and invested Rs 8,500 crore through the joint venture firm Emaar MGF Land.
The group has put in a Rs 5,069 crore bid for the redevelopment of one of the largest slum sprawls in the world, outbidding DLF, which had quoted Rs 2,025 crore, chief executive officer of the project S V R Srinivas said.
'A slum free Mumbai cannot happen with Dharavi at the centre of the city.'
Oberoi Constructions, promoted by billionaire Vikas Oberoi, has tied up with the $10 billion Chinese real estate firm Shimao group to bid for the Rs 10,000-crore (Rs 100 billion) Dharavi Redevelopment Project.
The billionaire Adani family, which is building an in-house construction and engineering ecosystem by acquiring ITD Cementation and PSP Projects, is actively seeking additional acquisition opportunities, according to bankers. As part of its $100 billion investment plan by 2030, the Ahmedabad-based group has undertaken several large-scale construction projects, including the Dharavi redevelopment, Ganga Expressway, a mega convention centre in Mumbai and airports.
Shankar Prajapati, a 57-year-old potter in Dharavi, has given up hope of getting a bigger house for his family. He lives cheek by jowl in a hutment measuring 200 square (sq.) feet (ft) in the nondescript shanty town. "We have surrendered to our fate. We cannot wait forever for better accommodation. "Perhaps we are not meant to dream big," despairs Prajapati. Raju Korde, president, Dharavi Redevelopment Committee, and a local resident, agrees with Prajapati.
According to the government, the additional chief secretary of the state housing department is designated to sign an agreement with the Union government for the land lease transfer.
The Slum Rehabilitation Authority of Maharashtra has once again extended the last date for submission of expression of interest for the Rs 10,000-crore (Rs 100 billion) Dharavi Redevelopment Project to August 30.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan plans to overhaul the Rs 15,000-crore Dharavi redevelopment project. Chavan - who has already flagged what he called an "unholy nexus" among builders, politicians and middlemen in the wake of the Adarsh housing society scam - now wants state-run Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority (Mhada) to carry out the big-ticket project.
The Rs 9,500-crore Dharavi makeover may be postponed by a few months as the scheme will have to be amended to increase the size of the flats, to be given to slum-dwellers, from 225 sq ft to 269 sq ft, according to builders close to the development.
'Gautam Adani will not be able to step inside Dharavi.' 'We will ensure Adani will not get what he wants.' 'Adani has no reason to do politics with people of Dharavi but he is still doing it.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated and laid foundation stones of development projects worth more than Rs 38,000 crore in different sectors in Mumbai, giving a big push to infrastructure, urban travel and healthcare ahead of civic polls in the city in which the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction will seek to showcase these ventures to take on their political rivals.
While the responses of the candidates were predictable, depending on which side they belonged to, an interesting point slipped through when Rahul Shewale cited the Dharavi Redevelopment Project as a scheme that would add to Mumbai's importance. No big infrastructural project in Mumbai, he said, could be successful without the Centre's nod.
'More than 9.5% new voters have been added to the electoral voters' list compared to the 2024 Lok Sabha election.' 'This led to an increase in about 5% to 6% in total votes polled for this assembly election.' 'That has tilted hugely in our favour because we worked hard for registration of these voters and concentrated on bringing out these new voters out during this assembly election.'
When Mumbai-born architect Mukesh Mehta first waded into Dharavi a decade ago, he went in as - in his own words - a mercenary looking to make money
Developer to bid for work from those who win the final contract.
Dev Chatterjee & Raghavendra Kamath in Mumbai
'Kasab was never given mutton biryani.' 'What I had said was Kasab had asked for mutton biryani to be served in jail.'
When there is a state government committed to development, it is important that Mumbai has a civic body that, too, shares that goal, Modi said.
Shiv Sena has so far expressed concerns over car shed for the city's planned metro network, the bullet train and the West Coast refinery projects.
Urban planners and real estate experts say bad town planning in Mumbai and rising deaths during the ongoing pandemic are a "sad reality". Dev Chatterjee and Raghavendra Kamath report.
After years of living with his family in a poky 110 sq. ft. 'house', textile worker Sambhaji Surve dreams of moving into a home four times the size once the Maharashtra government starts its ambitious redevelopment of the 39-acre Kamathipura shanty town in south-central Mumbai. Sharing his dream are about 8,000 other families hoping for a better life when the redevelopment project, part of the government's effort to redevelop old settlements and make life more livable for some residents, gets underway. The Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party aims to redevelop BDD Chawl and Dharavi but for Surve all the matters is Kamathipura where he arrived in the 1970s from Nasik to work in a textile mill. Kamathipura was originally built 150 years ago following construction of a causeway to connect the seven islands of Mumbai. From the British Raj to post-independence, it became infamous for slums and brothels.
One of Mumbai's biggest real estate redevelopment projects of Bombay Development Directorate's (BDD's) chawls (large buildings divided into many separate tenements, offering cheap, basic accommodation) has taken off in Central Mumbai, opening up a Rs 20,000-crore opportunity for real estate companies. It is expected to drive down real estate prices in Central Mumbai by up to 25 per cent, forecast real estate experts. Spread over 92 acres in Central Mumbai's prime localities of Worli, Lower Parel, and Dadar and consisting 195 four-storey houses, the BDD chawls were constructed in the 1920s.
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