For first time in the city’s civic planning history, the new plan has demarcated 12,859 hectares as “permanent no development zone”.
Mumbai - has a congestion problem. You might have noticed the crowds and the lack of space. Going by the 2011 census data, Mumbai's population is 1.24 crore. 12.4 million people officially.
The city was promised a development plan a while ago, but patiently continued to choke on itself. Until this week. Every media house is labeling this the much awaited plan – the Development Plan 2034 approved by Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, aimed at creating a million affordable homes in the city and providing extra floor space index, or FSI, for both residential and commercial construction. This is expected to create more land available for the perpetually space-starved city. Overdue is perhaps a more apt description? I mean look at all that crowd…have you ever seen that many pigeons in one city?
The Development Plan for Greater Mumbai has undergone many revisions over the years. The draft Development Plan 2014-34 was earlier passed in the municipal body on 1 August last year. Corporators across the political spectrum proposed 267 amendments in the plan. These amendments were largely related to reservations for day care centres, children's park, another central park and a museum. The delays in approval have led to confusion among developers, with several of them holding off their housing projects.
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It proposes to unlock about 3,355 hectares of public and privately owned lands, currently tagged No Development Zones. This will help the govt push low-cost housing and augment social amenities. Around 2,100 hectares will be allocated for affordable housing under the Development Plan 2034, Ajoy Mehta, municipal commissioner of Mumbai, said in a press conference. Another 300 hectares of salt pan land will also go for affordable homes. That’s nearly 3700 hectares of land for affordable housing. The Development Plan will also create 8 million direct and indirect jobs in both residential and commercial sectors.
For first time in the city’s civic planning history, the new plan has demarcated 12,859 hectares as “permanent no development zone”. In such areas, no construction activity will be allowed. Pristine nature, anyone?
Under the development plan 2034, developers will get more floor space index or FSI. Floor space index is the ratio of a building’s total floor area to the area of the plot. A higher FSI means developers will be able to build more on a given plot. That usually happens by adding floors. Bear in mind that Mumbai is already the world’s second most crowded city, with a population density of 29,650 per sq Km. While FSI in Mumbai has been raised from 1.33 to 3, for the city’s suburbs it has been raised from 2 to 2.5. For commercial properties, FSI has been raised from 1.33 to 5 in the city and from 2.5 to 5 in the suburbs.
One major change from earlier plans is, FSI is now linked to the width of the road “Wherever you have road width, you'll get higher FSI. Obviously there’ll be little more FSI available in the island city than in the suburbs. It will depend on the existing infrastructure,” said Nitin Kareer, principal secretary of urban development for the Maharashtra.
Maharashtra Urban Development’s Principal Secretary Nitin Kareer said, "Among other major issues, availability of open spaces is well taken care of in the DP. No open space reservation has been removed even as some extra open space is proposed to be created, because the government feels that open space is the important parameter of the quality of life."
A higher FSI has been demanded by the industry for a while now, according to Niranjan Hiranandani, MD of the Hiranandani Group. He said, “We'd been saying that instead of selectively increasing FSI for slum rehabilitation, redevelopment of hotels or IT parks, you should increase it universally on the lines of what the government of India had been projecting. I think it’s a positive outcome that we have brought the FSI up to three.” Experts say those who want to sell their large land parcels will benefit. The FSI in those land parcels has gone up; consequentially, the value will have gone up, according to one expert at a property consultancy.
Builders are also glad that, unlike earlier, the new DP focuses on commercial real estate as well, with an aim to decongest existing central business district areas.
So, while we may see more and taller buildings in Mumbai, if infrastructure development fails to keep pace with increased construction, the stress on civic amenities and traffic may worsen. Let’s put it this way: while real estate developments based on the new development plan are positive for Mumbai’s growth, it is also likely to increase pressure on the city’s existing infrastructure.