Mike Tyson, former world heavy weight boxing champion, wished to visit Taj Mahal and Dharavi in India on his bucket list, showcasing his love for the ancient city. In the late 1970s, when he visited to Mumbai to pursue a career in the diamond trade. Dharavi, a melting pot of diverse beliefs, cultures, and languages, provided order and a strong sense of order. The visit to Dharavi was both humbling and disturbing, as it inspired the question of whether their fate would ever change. The Dharavis swarming below Mumbai Airport symbolizes the city’s ability to embrace settlers of different origins and its urban squalor. A personal connection to Mumbai led to a 2.5 times higher bid for a new Dharavi, aiming to create dignity, safety, and inclusiveness.
Dharavii’s unique project faces colossal challenges compared to Singapore’s 1960s. The largest urban resettlement and regeneration project in the world involves rehabilitating around a million people, reestablishing diverse establishments, and addressing housing and rehabilitation needs for both eligible and ineligible residents in Dharavi.Dharavi’s transformation into a modern city hub aims to support and strengthen micro enterprises, small industries, and promote new jobs, especially for youth and women. A multi-pronged strategy, involving sectoral experts and civil society, could include training centers, common facility centers for product-based and service-based entrepreneurship models, R&D centers, data centers, MSME help desks, and the creation of organized and systemic marketplaces in line with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).
Chairman of the Adani Group, Mr. Guatam Adani, remarks, Mike Tyson may not be able to recognise the Dharavi he saw earlier but I am sure that he will still find its soul as spirited and alive as ever. God willing, the likes of Danny Boyle will discover that the new Dharavi is producing millionaires without the slumdog prefix.The Dharavi project presents significant challenges in design and implementation, testing resilience, capability, and execution skills. The Adani Group has developed a solution-oriented culture with a motivated, experienced team. With stakeholder support, they aim to create history and make Dharavi, Mumbai, and India proud.
