Mumbai Makeover - Where do we start
In the country’s most congested city, real estate, its availability and its cost could soon change forever, alongside a promise of improved access to low-income housing and massive redevelopment of crumbling properties in Mumbai. And all this is through a first-ever housing policy to be announced by Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on November 1, a policy that will be reforms-driven and more liberal than ever before.
Though Principal Secretary (Housing) S Kshatriya was unavailable for comment, reliable sources indicated what the key components of the policy will be:
Increased FSI, but variable FSI
An increase in FSI is on the cards, but not an across the board hike. While the average FSI of the city is certain to see a rise, there will also be locational or regional variations in maximum permissible FSI.
Also, Mumbai currently has a semi-uniform maximum permissible FSI of 1.33 for the city, 1 for the suburbs, apart from incentive FSI of 2.5 for slum redevelopment projects, etc. That is set to give way to variable FSI: Business districts, buildings within a certain radius of transport nodes like the railways—and soon, the Metro Rail—-will get higher FSI. That means, a relationship is to be drawn between infrastructure availability and FSI in that area.
Something already promised by the government, this is believed to be something crucial to the housing industry. It’s also been a longstanding demand from builders as well as from the Centre in recent months to repeal the Urban Land Ceiling Act. Large amounts of land will be released thus, made available mostly for residential development
Seems hunky dory on paper, but when would the real benefits acrue to the common man. Mumbai has long been neglected by all the goverment and the planning authorities and inspite of mumbai contributing a sizeable chunk of Revenue in form of taxes, to the coffers, all we get is pittiance in return
Even the elected representatives of the city have failed to rise up to the cause of the city
The need of the hour is a seperate authority for the city with enough powers to be the real regulator. The list of To-Do's is a vast, but the Goverment should make a headstart by implementing the New Draft Housing Policy in the total spirit and ensure that all legislations are in place to facilitate greater compliances and get the end results.