Mumbai: Property experts estimate a free sale component of roughly 140 million sq ft to be unlocked by the Dharavi redevelopment plan, yielding revenues of Rs 1.2-1.7 lakh crore for the joint venture between the state govt and the Adani group.Said Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock Group, “At a rough estimate, the Dharavi redevelopment project presents the builder with about 140 million sq.ft. of overall saleable area for sale on the open market, with a separate allotment for rehabilitation of the current inhabitants. We are roughly looking at over Rs 1 lakh crore of gross revenue. The anticipated profit margins are anywhere between 18–25%. It is also important to note that the Dharavi redevelopment project permits the developer to monetize TDR, or Transferable Development Rights, as well as commercial spaces.”Nav Bharat Mega Developers is a special purpose vehicle between the Adani Group and the state for Dharavi’s revamp. Total rehab cost including housing units for eligible beneficiaries and other for affordable rental housing is projected at Rs 95,790 crore, of which construction cost will be Rs 23,800 crore. This factors in the cost of building and handing over 72,000 units free of cost (residential rehab units, residential renewal units, commercial and industrial rehab units and commercial renewal units).Since 270 acres have been demarcated as net developable area, all the land left over after providing 72,000 units will be available to develop in the free sale component.Pankaj Kapoor, MD of Liases Foras, a realty research firm, said he expects profit margins to be 25-30%. “This is on a projected revenue of Rs 1.2 lakh crore to Rs 1.7 lakh crore from the sale component at average market price of Rs 25,000 a sq ft,” he added.“Projected saleable area is expected to range between 40.7 million sq ft and 60 million sq ft, depending on extent of FSI utilized for the rehabilitation portion,” said Kapoor.However, he cautioned that the project’s seven-year completion timeline was “highly ambitious”. “To stay on track, achieving annual sales of approximately 6.5 to 9 million sq ft will be a challenge and necessitate highly competitive pricing,” he said.Architect Alan Abraham said at Rs 95,000-plus crore, the Dharavi project is cheaper than the bullet train, only 3x the cost of Mumbai Metro 3 and 6x the cost of the coastal road. “It seems really inexpensive to transform our city centre, to better the lives of millions of our citizens. If the development of Dharavi is so important to our city, then I wonder why the govt couldn’t just do this themselves – while keeping these and the additional lands public, and earning all the revenue from the TDR,” he said. “In my opinion, the sale price of the Dharavi project will exceed those in Bandra-Kurla Complex, and perhaps even Linking Road,” he added.Aditya Thackeray, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, said the Adani Group was given incentives for this project in the form of 1,300 acres across the city free. “BMC is being denied a premium of Rs 7,500 crore for its land and the TDR incentive.” He said the MVA govt showed a better model of redevelopment for BDD chawls through a govt agency.