Mumbai floor space index up; city due for realty boom

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has increased floor space index to 3 from 1.7-2 for redevelopment of old buildings in Mumbai. This paves the way for builders to construct three times the area of the size of a plot. The rest of the area can be commercialised, an incentive for builders to purchase the buildings.

The announcement is significant because there are hundreds of such buildings in Mumbai, but there was no incentive for builders. The new guidelines will apply for the island city, but will not cover the suburbs. The residents of these buildings will now be entitled to get flats in new buildings between the size of 300 sq ft and 753 sq ft, according to a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s office.

Chavan also announced changes in the development control rules 33(7), offering major concessions to developers. In some cases, the FSI given for such redevelopment could be even higher than 3 depending on the size of the rehabilitation area.

The developers will, however, have to take permission from the High rise Committee of the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation if the height of the building is more than 9 times the breadth of the plot. Builders will also have to leave 6 meters on the front side and at least on one other side between the compound wall and the construction wall.

The government has also put the condition that the original residents from the old buildings who will be rehabilitated in the new buildings do not have to pay property tax for the first ten years and the responsibility of taking care of the outgoing charges will be that of the developers. The developers will have to form a corpus for this.

The move sets the stage for hundreds of old buildings in South Mumbai to be demolished and rebuilt and new accommodation for residents.