Tender award to Adani for Dharavi slum redevelopment: Maharashtra government defends move in Bombay High Court

The Maharashtra government filed an affidavit in the Bombay High Court, justifying the decision to award the tender for redeveloping Dharavi slums to Adani Properties [Seclink Technologies v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.]..The State government also refuted claims that there was a loss to the public exchequer on account of this move in a reply filed to a plea by a competing bidder, Seclink Technologies.Seclink had challenged the cancellation of a 2018 tender and the award of the tender for the project, with new conditions, to Adani in 2022..Seclink's petition, filed through Ganesh & Co., claimed that the clauses of the new tender were added only to oust Seclink as a bidder and to ensure that Adani won the bid..The State's housing department Wednesday refuted this stance. In its affidavit, the State highlighted that the new tender provided for liability on the new bidder to pay at least ₹2,800 crores to the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA), which owns a portion of the land. This amount is over and above the price bid. Apart from this, there was an additional cost for constructing of railway quarters on approximately 84,000 square meters of land.In view of these payments, Adani was declared as the highest bidder after it quoted ₹5,069 crores, with a final bid of ₹7,869 crores (which will infused by Adani into the redevelopment), exceeding the ₹7,200 crore price bid of Seclink (who bid under the old tender), the State said..The new tender also require the bidder to accommodate non-eligible slum tenements in affordable housing or under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the State added. This was to be at an additional and substantial cost to be undertaken by the special purpose vehicle (SPV) carrying out the project.The affidavit further reiterated its point that the conditions prescribed in the 2022 tender for the slum redevelopment were revised in view of the change in financial and material circumstances in the country between 2019 to 2022..The State government also contested the Seclink's allegation that the award of the tender to Adani resulted in a a loss to the government exchequer.The affidavit clarified that the bid amount (under the earlier 2018 tender or the new 2022 tender) is not required to be paid to the State as the consideration or revenue. It is solely required as an undertaking for the redevelopment project by the selected bidder. In view of this, the loss to the exchequer was not even a consideration.The State further explained that the bid criteria in the tender was tied to the ability of the bidder to infuse funds into the SPV for the redevelopment of Dharavi.