FSI hike may leave out key city spots
Contrary to expectations, the Maharashtra government’s proposed housing policy is unlikely to offer higher floor space index (FSI) for all housing projects in the city.
By Girish Kuber, TNN |
MUMBAI: Contrary to expectations, the Maharashtra government’s proposed housing policy is unlikely to offer higher floor space index (FSI) for all housing projects in the city. It may, however, offer liberal FSI for community housing and large projects for the poor.
The FSI determines the ratio of space to be developed on land. In south Mumbai it is 1.5, meaning 150 sq ft of space can be developed on land admeasuring 100 sq ft. There has been a demand by the real estate industry and even the World Bank to raise it to double digits.
There were reports that the Maharashtra government’s proposed housing policy, to be announced on Wednesday, may hike the FSI across the state capital.
“We want to raise the FSI, but will be selective in handling it,” an official associated with the exercise told ET. Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh explained the rationale. “There is no point in offering higher FSI to the rich. Prices hardly affect them,” he told ET.
Instead, the FSI rules will be relaxed for projects housing the poor and the needy. “The policy should help the poor and the lower middle class people buy their dream homes in Mumbai,” Mr Deshmukh said.
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“The draft of the proposed housing policy will be out to initiate a public debate on November 1,” Mr Deshmukh said. This also marks the Congress-led Democratic Front government’s two years in power in the state. The policy, yet another initiative by the state to transform Mumbai, may address the issue of the archaic Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act (ULCRA).For the makeover of Mumbai, the state needs Rs 40,000 crore over the next 10 years. Of this Rs 10,000 crore is expected to come from the Union government, provided the state repeals the ULCRA. “If we don’t repeal the Act, major infrastructure projects in the city could be affected,” Mr Deshmukh said.
The ULCRA, introduced in 1976, is aimed at preventing hoarding of land in private hands and making land available for government’s social and common welfare schemes.
Having failed to meet its objective, the Act was scrapped by the Centre in 1999, and by many states soon after. Maharashtra is the only state that kept the Act alive.
Keeping it alive would have meant further delay in many major projects such as the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link costing Rs 3,500 crore, the Mumbai Metro Project at an estimated cost of Rs 20,000 crore, the Bandra-Worli and Worli-Nariman Point sea link costing Rs 4,200 crore and the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP)-II costing Rs 3,600 crore.
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