For one, a deliberative process is now well on its way; for another, by the time the project actually takes off by the end of 2009 - unless it’s further scuttled after Vidhan Sabha elections - developers hope the recessionary trends may have reversed.

“We have made several changes in the guidelines, so the developers wanted an additional 45 days to prepare their masterplans,” said MHADA vice-president and CEO, Gautam Chatterjee, also officer on special duty for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project. The 19 consortia still in the fray will now present their masterplans from February 10 to 24. The team of independent experts advising the government on the project will be present through the presentations too.

Also, since key members of the expert committee include some of the original project’s strongest opponents, the prolonged dialogue between them and the government has been effective. “This can only be good for the project,” said a MHADA officer. “Their inputs have included several innovations on the design of the homes for rehabilitation of the slumdwellers, including an idea for community spaces that are partially enclosed and will therefore not consume FSI.” The expert group comprises former bureaucrats like DM Sukthankar as well as architects and urban planners.

Meanwhile, a series of procedures, including acquisition of private properties and the crucial surveys of residents in the slum, will be complete in 2009. “Ninety per cent of the survey is done, with the exception of Koliwada and Kumbharwada,” said Chatterjee.

In January, residents of large pockets of Dharavi will get ‘family identity cards’ generated by Mashaal, the Pune-based organization that has been contracted to conduct the baseline socio-economic survey of the slum’s approximately 70,000 families. Government-issued ID cards will follow.

Other processes getting under way include discussions with various government agencies on amenities and land. While a 2-hectare plot owned by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has now been promised as land for constructing transit tenements, the MHADA and BMC have also opened discussions on the redevelopment of several municipal properties inside the Dharavi notified area. These include tenanted properties, municipal staff quarters and lands leased by the BMC to various societies, all to be redeveloped under the Dharavi Redevelopment Project’s ‘urban renewal component’.

“The 4 FSI for the urban renewal component is to be shared as 1.72 for rehabilitation and 2.82 for the developers’ free sale component,” said a civic official. “And we expect that there will be surplus space generated even in the 1.72 FSI than currently owned by the BMC.”