For the first time, tenders for a Mumbai slum redevelopment project will be announced simultaneously in 16 cities across the globe later this week.

I S Chahal, Officer on Special Duty for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project, said global tenders for the multi-crore project — it’s one of the schemes to change the face of Mumbai — will be floated in ‘‘just two to three days... we are only awaiting the Chief Minister’s clearance for the actual Expression of Interest document which we expect very soon’’.

As soon as Deshmukh gives his nod, advertisements will be placed in leading newspapers in Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles, London, Dubai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore.

Officials and planners said the qualifying criteria for developers will be so steep — several hundred crores in net worth plus several hundred crores in construction turnover each year — that even big Indian developers will be able to participate only through joint ventures. The winning bidders will be those offering the fattest premium to the state government per sector (minimum Rs 100 crore), over and above their investment.

The Dharavi Redevelopment Project, seeking to “rehouse”56,000 families in five self-sustained sectors on 535 acres of prime property, is already delayed.

“This is historical,” said project management consultant Mukesh Mehta, when contacted in New Delhi. Having drafted the plan and having worked on the details for nearly a decade now, Mehta said the aim will be to provide an improved quality of life to 56,000 families who will now get a middle class lifestyle “with world class amenities”. He said this would be a chance for the Slum Rehabilitation Authority, the implementing agency now besieged by a series of corruption allegations, to redeem itself.

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