Developing Maximum City

Four years after it fell due, the Maharashtra government has finally come up with its 20-year development plan for Mumbai. The idea that a city’s spaces belong to all its residents must be reflected in its long-term plans. A salutary feature of ‘Mumbai Development Plan 2014-34’ is that it makes a concerted effort to open up the heart of Mumbai to affordable housing, rather than banish ordinary folk to places some 50 km away in the mainland. Hence, the plan identifies about 3,300 hectares of additional land for housing, of which, 2,100 hectares will be carved out of the ‘No Development Zone’ (or NDZ, an area of about 13,700 hectares where construction has been debarred for environmental reasons). Another 1,100 hectares will be released from ‘Tourism Development Area’ and the remaining amount from salt pans. However, civil society groups suspect a sleight of hand with respect to the actual allotment of land for affordable housing. In the last round of Development Control Regulations, framed in 1991 for the apportionment of mill lands for commercial use, open spaces and residential use, very little affordable housing was actually created. This was because the rules were altered to limit the space available for mass housing. The present policy draft does not demarcate any specific area for affordable housing in the NDZ; instead, it incentivises a landowner to part with two-thirds of his property by allowing him a floor space index of three (ratio of built-up area to the size of the plot), instead of the present FSI norm of 0.2 on NDZ land. Given the experience of the last plan, it remains to be seen whether the new norm serves the stated goal of providing nearly a million affordable dwellings. A better option is to develop 2,000 hectares of slum land (two-fifths of the city’s population resides in slums) and 3,000 hectares of land under the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority. Land under the Mumbai Port Trust can also be used.

On the whole, the policy has decided to develop the heart of Mumbai further skywards, raising the FSI in commercial and densely populated regions. However, the creation of housing stock does not necessarily lead to houses becoming more affordable, as prices remain artificially high in urban areas. Despite the introduction of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, the housing market remains a distorted one. Affordable housing, whether in Mumbai or elsewhere, will remain only in paper, unless the sector is further reformed.

In trying to pack more housing into Mumbai, the plan should also take infrastructure needs into account, such as the impact of a higher population on traffic congestion and sanitation. A city situated on the coast, such as Mumbai or Chennai, needs to be wary of exposing itself to extreme weather events and plan well for green cover and drainage.

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