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Real estate developers may cheer Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s move to increase floor space index in Mumbai, but industry watchers and urban planners point out that such a move could be “recipe for disaster” if infrastructure development doesn’t go hand in hand.
They also point out that the cost of homes is unlikely to come down soon as supply may not happen immediately to bring down prices.
BMC has demarcated separate FSI zones across the city in the draft development plan — the city’s development blueprint for the next 20 years.
These will range from 0.15 to 8 FSI. The FSI is the ratio of a building’s total area to the measurement of the land on which it is built.
“If premium for extra FSI is attached to the ready reckoner, it can be a good revenue generator for BMC, but will be counter-productive as far as prices are concerned. We have already seen this year, that ready reckoner can be higher than even the actual market price. Even transfer development rights prices will go up as more developers will try to attain the highest FSI and go vertical,” said Lalit Kumar Jain, Chairman, CREDAI.
The earlier development plan had prescribed 1.33 FSI in the island city and 1.0 in the suburbs in a bid to contain population growth and density.
Manju Yagnik, Vice-Chairperson, Nahar Group said, “The FSI guidelines will impact only a few crowded areas of Mumbai especially in places where infra projects are coming up and there is no space to grow vertically. Otherwise, it is a good decision overall in Mumbai where land is scarce and old dilapidated buildings needing immediate attention will also benefit.”
Real estate industry says that the current permissible construction on a plot of land is 1.33 between Cuffe Parade and Mahim while for the suburbs — starting from Bandra till Virar in Western suburb and Thane in Central suburb the base FSI is one.
Gulam Zia, Executive Director at Knight Frank India said, “The increase in FSI is haphazard and an erratic decision. Unless the master plan takes into consideration the infrastructure requirement of the city, it will not yield desired result”.
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