Billionaire’s bid to remake Mumbai slum spurs doubts

The Star

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's plan to rehouse a million people living in one of Asia's biggest slums is fueling worries among residents about his capacity to deliver.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00 The Dharavi slum in India's Mumbai is home to one million people, making it one of the

00:07 world's biggest.

00:08 It has a complicated history, dating back to the 1800s.

00:13 Now a plan to overhaul the area is causing residents to get jittery about what the future

00:19 holds and where they fit into it.

00:23 You might recognize Dharavi from the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire.

00:28 The slum is known for producing leather goods and many residents run small businesses out

00:33 of their homes.

00:35 At the helm of plans to redevelop Dharavi into a modern city hub are Indian billionaire

00:41 Gautam Adani and the Adani Group.

00:44 In July, the state government approved his $614 million contract bid to overhaul the

00:50 slum after years of failed attempts.

00:54 The Adani Group says it will demolish what it describes in legal documents as an area

00:58 of unhygienic, deplorable conditions and build new towers on state-owned land to accommodate

01:05 residents and their businesses.

01:07 Adani stands to make billions from the project.

01:11 Residents worry the redevelopment will take away their livelihoods.

01:16 We also want to live in a bigger house.

01:18 However, we are scared that the tailoring business we are running here, whether it will

01:22 be able to grow or not.

01:27 The overhaul will come with free homes, but only for those who lived here before 2000.

01:34 About 700,000 residents are considered ineligible and will be offered units up to six miles

01:41 away.

01:42 That could require them to pay upfront costs or higher rents.

01:47 The project comes at a tumultuous time for Adani, who has acknowledged the project presents

01:52 colossal challenges.

01:55 He was considered the world's third richest person until January, when allegations by

02:00 a U.S. short-seller of improper dealings wiped $150 billion off his group's market valuations.

02:08 In interviews with Reuters, some Darra V residents said the billionaire's financial troubles

02:13 contributed to their mistrust, with some wondering where they would go if the project fell apart.

02:20 A fresh threat to the project is a legal challenge from rival bidder SecLink Technologies Corporation.

02:27 It alleges that an original 2018 tender was improperly canceled and restarted with new

02:33 terms last year so that Adani could win, according to court papers reviewed by Reuters.

02:39 The current state government and Adani are contesting the case.

02:43 For more information, visit www.fema.gov.

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