Mumbai: The Centre is positively considering a proposal of the State government to enhance the floor space index (FSI) to 7 around the ambitious Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP)-3, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said at a meeting this week.
The State and the Railways had sought approval via a letter on June 19, 2018. They had been told that if the proposal was approved, they could sell the unused FSI as transfer of development rights, officials told The Hindu.
The government had earlier received approval for an FSI of 5 in the influence zone of the corridor, which was further requested to be increased to 7 in June, 2018.
Officials said owing to the sheer scale of the project, several routes of financing were being explored, one of which was providing extra FSI around the influence zones of all the new corridors, which could be utilised to fund the project.
“The CM gave an in-principle approval for sharing the cost of MUTP 3A 50:50, as has been done for other earlier phases of MUTP.
The increase in FSI was considered and we have been asked to formulate a concrete plan.
During the meeting, it was also decided to extend the rehabilitation policy designed for MUTP to MUTP 3A,” a senior railways official said.
The ₹54,777-crore project received a token allocation of ₹1 crore in the budget. MUTP 3, projects under which are in preliminary stages, is expected to cost ₹10,947 crore.
MUTP 3A includes the elevated fast corridor between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Panvel, a new line between Panvel and Virar, and the procurement of 210 fully air-conditioned locals. The State’s share comes up to ₹27,388 crore.