Requirement of 51 per cent consent of tenants/ occupants in respect of redevelopment of old MHADA buildings, cessed and SRA buildings has been brought in, this to ease the redevelopment process.
The development plan 2034 has a lot for developers, but at the same time, it has taken away the right of tenants under the redevelopment scheme. Requirement of 51 per cent consent of tenants/ occupants in respect of redevelopment of old MHADA buildings, cessed and SRA buildings has been brought in, this to ease the redevelopment process. Housing activists have slammed this move. They say that the rights of tenants have been taken away. Earlier, the consent requirement was 70 per cent.
Chandrasekhar Prabhu, a leading housing activist, said: "Concerned citizens will be on the streets, protesting this move. We will go to court if required, having 70 per cent consent was democratic. This is not in favour of tenants."
The government says 51 per cent is far more democratic, and instead questioned what was the logic behind 70 per cent. "51 per cent is very democratic, having more than 50 per cent consent for redevelopment is a good move," said Sanjay Kumar, additional chief secretary, housing department.
For cluster redevelopment, the requirement is of 51 per cent consent of tenants of each building and overall 70 per cent consent of tenants in redevelopment projects under 33 (9).
On the other hand, the government is opening more than 3,355 hectares of land which includes No Development Zone to Special Development Zone, of which 2,100 hectares will be opened for affordable housing. This land was earlier locked for development, and there was no Floor Space Index available for this. Now, according to senior Development Plan officers, the land will be opened up in various parts, while 30 per cent will be used for affordable housing, 30 per cent will be given to the land owner/ developer, remaining will be used for amenities, open spaces and others.
There will be separately 330 hectares of Salt Pan land, which the government is opening up for constructing affordable homes. Experts are critical of this too, Prabhu said. Whenever the government says that they are opening up land space for affordable housing, it has always been to benefit the developers. "Look at previous examples, they said repealing of Urban Land Ceiling Act will get affordable houses, but then it hasn't. Extra FSI in suburbs was meant to increase affordable housing stock. I am taking this move with a bucket of salt, not a pinch of salt," said Prabhu.
Developer Niranjan Hiranandani said: "The Mumbai Development Plan 2034 brings in a serious effort as ensuring the target of affordable homes get constructed within a reasonably short time, given the opening up of various categories of land on which such construction was earlier not allowed."
There is some good news for old societies, too. For housing societies older than 30 years, 15 per cent additional built up area will be allowed for each tenement without charging any premium. This will boost redevelopment of buildings, too, as it will mean every tenant will get one additional room.
Maximum permissible FSI increased to 3
The new DP has moved the focus on island city again, while the base FSI has been kept the same to 1.33 in Island city, the maximum permissible FSI has been increased to 3, while there has been no change in the FSI in suburbs. To counter this, Nitin Karir, Principal Secretary, Urban Development Department said: "The rationale behind increasing the FSI for Island city is because we have better infrastructure here, roads and even water facilities." Apart from the base FSI of 1.33, the developer will be allowed to use TDR and also get additional FSI totaling up to 3 by paying a premium.
Earlier, the focus was on suburbs, hence, when the government decided to hike the FSI in suburbs, it allowed the usage of TDR only in suburbs, and recently it introduced it in the island city, too. "The population in the island city has thinned in the last few years, and most development that takes place is redevelopment of old cessed buildings. This new FSI boost will help developers increase the scale of development and help get a larger population back to island city, which moved to suburbs. As larger construction would mean competitive pricing," said architect Arqam Shaikh, of ARC Associates.
The FSI for commercial projects on independent plots has been hiked up to 5, a senior officer from DP said, "The motive is that developers will focus more on developing only commercial projects, this will be done then anywhere in suburbs as well as south Mumbai, thus decreasing the burden on only one side."
Hiranandani says, for years, Mumbai's Development Plans focused on residential real estate development. This time around, the focus has been equally placed on commercial real estate, with twin focus — first, on decongesting existing CBD area, as also extending the 'walk to work' aspect to newer locations.
ISSUES OF RIGHTS
Housing activists say that the rights of tenants have been taken away. Earlier, the consent requirement was 70 per cent.
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