Two of the three projects tendered are tied up in wrangles that do not lend themselves to a quick solution. Turbhe-Mandale where the SPPL plans to build 3,500 tenements, does not have a permanent access road. The road which will be an underpass below the Mankhurd railway over bridge will have to be built by the railways since it falls in railway land. Project plans have been sent to the railways which were received only eight days back and are in the process of scrutiny.

Similarly, at Wadala where the SPPL plans to build around 900 tenements, the landbelonging to India Hume Pipe needs to have a clearance under the Urban Land Ceiling & Regulation Act. Also, while the tenements are being constructed, the lists and names of slumdwellers who are to shift into these rehabilitation sites have not been finalised. ``The Turbhe-Mandale plans are on my table and are on the verge of getting passed,'' said SRA's chief executive officer Gautam Chatterjee.

``Since the permanent underpass is not ready as yet, we shall only be issuing a letter of intent (LoI). Work can commence only after the access road is opened,'' he added.

For the Wadala land, he said that the SPPL was awaiting the repeal of the ULCRA or an exemption from it. With India Hume Pipe having land in places like Rajkot, the appropriate authority will have to look into the entire landholding of the company and then decide on the formalities to be undertaken.

The SPPL invited tenders last week for the construction of tenements in places like Dharavi where slums already exist, open plots inTurbhe-Mandale in Mankhurd, Wadala and Dindoshi. At Dindoshi, the SPPL plans to construct 4,500 tenements. Tenders for Mankhurd were opened on December 30 while those for Wadala and Dindoshi are to open on January 2 and 5 respectively. The response, though not overwhelming, is being called ``positive.''

SPPL got nine quotations for Turbhe-Mandale which included construction giants L&T, Unity Constructions, V M Jog Constructions and B G Shirke & Co.

``We have got this thing sorted out,'' said managing director of SPPL, G S Gill, ``work will not be awarded yet. We shall be getting the design and other things of the sites approved first. The SRA will give its LoI.'' In any case, said Gill, the SPPL is at present only developing rehab tenements, not the free sale ones.

On Turbhe-Mandale he said that there is an existing underpass which has to be widened. ``Of course, they want it to be a 50 metre access road, but then you can't go by a wish-list you will have to be practical,'' he said. ``And how long canwe wait for talks to materialise with the civil aviation, or the railways for relocating their slums,'' he argued, ``it will be like the eternal question of the chicken-and-egg. We could sign agreements with the slumdwellers first and then undertake to develop the tenements or we could get them built first and then shift the slumdwellers.''

He admitted though that the slumdwellers issue was a sticky one. While there are non governmental organisations like YUVA and SPARC who are working with the slumdwellers, the final list of who will shift where has not been drawn up. The railways, which has been offered 3500 tenements at Mankhurd for shifting the slumdwellers on the harbour line has yet to respond. The proposal has been sent to the Railway Board in New Delhi for clearance.

According to a railway official, since the widening of the underpass is to be financed by the SPPL, the decision will be taken by the office in the city itself.