Proposed 64-storey tower in Mumbai gets nod from environment panel

Indiabulls Realty can now begin construction of the first of their two 64-storey plus ultra-luxury towers — Sky — at Jupiter Mills in Lower Parel. The two-member State Environmental Impact Assessment Committee (SEIAC) has cleared the project following positive recommendations from the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC), an advisory body that scrutinises all big construction and infrastructure projects in the state.

The nod was given on Friday after the developer reduced the total construction area to approximately 61,000 sq mt and also the number of parking spaces from 371 to 250.  

Earlier, differences had cropped up between SEIAC and SEAC in considering the infrastructure components in the project as a pre-condition to giving environment clearance. 

In May, SEAC had asked the developer to make changes in the project saying it had “unacceptably high” construction area. The original proposal involved a construction area of 82,356 sq mt.

This was mainly on account of very high non-Floor Space Index (FSI) area. Non-FSI area means the built-up space for lobby, balcony, garden and parking space. When this was pointed out to them, Indiabulls reduced the total area of construction to 72,123 sq mt. 

However, SEAC observed that 72,123 sq mt was more than 15.29 times the net plot area of 4,718 sq mt. The committee had said this could stretch the available infrastructure in the area, besides affecting traffic on the roads outside the building. The objection was more as the non-FSI was still as high as 290% of the FSI area. SEAC said that while the developer can justify some increase in non-FSI area because the plot has an odd shape, it cannot justify the abnormally high non-FSI area. SEAC then decided to recommend the proposal to SEIAC by reducing the total built-up area to 56,600 sq mts. 

The residential development project by Indiabulls has a single building with two basement plus stilt and 64 upper floors (of which around 10 floors are reserved for parking) to accommodate 102 flats. The green area proposed is of 1,283 sq mt. The project had got high FSI under the municipal car park scheme, allowing vertical development of up to four times the size of the plot.