New Development Plan 2034 for Mumbai unveiled; unlocks more land for housing

The much-awaited Development Plan (DP) 2034 for Mumbai was unveiled by the Maharashtra government on Wednesday. The new plan will pave the way for the space-starved city to acquire more land available to construct residential buildings and commercial spaces. The major takeaways of the revised development plan are the infusion of new developable land and increasing the Floor Space Index (FSI) in the island city up to 3 for residential properties

FSI is the ratio of the total built-up area to the total area of a plot. It is basically a tool that defines the extent of construction permissible on a plot. In the new DP, the FSI for commercial properties is raised up to 5 in the island city from earlier 1.33. For suburbs, new FSI will be up to 2.5 and 5 for residential and commercial properties, respectively. The existing FSI for the two categories is 2 and 2.5, respectively. Unveiling the document, Maharashtra Urban Development department Principal Secretary Nitin Kareer said, "Among other major issues, availability of open spaces is well taken care of in the DP. No open space reservation has been removed even as some extra open space is proposed to be created, because the government feels that open space is the important parameter of the quality of life". He said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had approved the development blueprint yesterday.

"A notification will be issued in the next ten days. The new DP will be implemented one month after the notification is published," the principal secretary said. He said the land that falls under No Development Zone (NDZ) category, where the civic body can provide infrastructure, can now be utilised for the purpose of affordable housing as well as creating other amenities under the Special Development Zone (SDZ). The NDZ areas include salt pan lands and lands earlier earmarked for tourism development. "Maximum FSI for commercial properties in the island city is capped at 5. However, it is not necessarily applicable to every property. The maximum FSI will commensurate with the width of a road near the property concerned.

The FSI will be maximum for the widest road and will be lesser depending upon the width of a road concerned," Kareer said while sharing the new Development Control and Promotional Regulations 2034. Addressing the media, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Ajoy Mehta said over 3,000 hectares of land would be available for building affordable houses after unlocking the NDZ land. "Apart from this land, an additional 300 hectares of salt pan land will also be available for affordable housing. As per our estimate, about 10 lakh affordable houses will be built on these lands by 2034," Mehta said, adding that the new DP is based on the projection that Mumbai's population will come down by 2034. As per Census 2011, Mumbai's population is 1.24 crore.

Availability of new land means a lot for the space-constrained city with a population density of 29,650 per sq Km. Mehta said four major issues, including affordable housing and creation of jobs, have been addressed to in the DP 2034. "The first and foremost issue is housing. Other issues are creating additional jobs in the financial capital of the country, facilitating qualitative life and not compromising on open spaces, green cover etc. "The fourth major issue is to improve the life of marginalised sections of the society by helping them to maintain pace with development. For this reason, we have made a number of provisions for various sections like working women, divyangs etc.", he said. Mehta said issues like creating more old age homes are also addressed to.

"Moreover, a big impetus is given for promotion of art and culture in the city," he added. The chief minister approved the Mumbai DP 2034 yesterday, more than three years after it was submitted to him. He had scrapped the draft DP following a hue and cry generated by several quarters over its provisions, and had set up a new panel to come up with the revised plan. The draft Development Plan 2014-34 was earlier passed in the BMC civic body on August 1 last year. Corporators cutting across political parties had then proposed around 267 amendments in the plan. These amendments were mainly related to reservations for day care centres, children's park, another central park and a museum.

(Edited by mid-day online desk, with inputs from PTI)

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