The new year brought in some good tidings for the builder lobby in Mumbai. Finally, after a prolonged silence, the chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, finally released the amended Development Control rules for Mumbai region.
Perhaps we need to also thank Mr Subodh Kumar the civic chief for being able to stand-up to the strong, politically connected builder lobbyies.
Almost all builders have one unanimous feedback on the new changes " it will bring a level playing field between them"
So far, some of the more influential ones, were able to get around the system with large scale corruption.
Perhaps we need to also thank Mr Subodh Kumar the civic chief for being able to stand-up to the strong, politically connected builder lobbyies.
Almost all builders have one unanimous feedback on the new changes " it will bring a level playing field between them"
So far, some of the more influential ones, were able to get around the system with large scale corruption.
Kumar is the first civic chief in over a decade who went out of his way to curb the discretionary powers vested in the municipal commissioner to sanction building concessions to developers.
Earlier municipal commissioners liberally cleared projects with unusually large flower beds, voids, lily ponds and car decks. These areas are not included in the building’s FSI. These concessions allowed developers to build an additional 50% to 80% above the permitted builtup area.
The developer would sell these free spaces to buyers at market rate and then encourage them to illegally amalgamate these areas to make the apartment bigger. For instance, the flower bed area or a car deck is shown as part of the living room or bedroom by the builder.
Selling what was actually supposed to be free, the builders corruption knew no limits.
In the new DC rules, in any new construction the areas of balcony, flower beds, terraces, voids, niches, etc, will now be counted in the FSI given to the builder.
To compensate for the loss of free FSI areas, the government has allowed compensatory fungible FSI to the extent of 35% for residential development and 20% for industrial and commercial developments.
The amount collected through premiums will be equally divided between the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and the state government, and used for the city’s infrastructure projects.
With the passage of this new policy, a significant positive development would be the resumption in granting of approvals, with emergence of clarity on the policy front.
Also, the new rules could provide an impetus to land deals, which were earlier stuck owing to lack of policy clarity on FSI norms.
Can we also say thanks to Anna Hazare , for bringing "corruption issues" to the forefront!
Earlier municipal commissioners liberally cleared projects with unusually large flower beds, voids, lily ponds and car decks. These areas are not included in the building’s FSI. These concessions allowed developers to build an additional 50% to 80% above the permitted builtup area.
The developer would sell these free spaces to buyers at market rate and then encourage them to illegally amalgamate these areas to make the apartment bigger. For instance, the flower bed area or a car deck is shown as part of the living room or bedroom by the builder.
Selling what was actually supposed to be free, the builders corruption knew no limits.
In the new DC rules, in any new construction the areas of balcony, flower beds, terraces, voids, niches, etc, will now be counted in the FSI given to the builder.
To compensate for the loss of free FSI areas, the government has allowed compensatory fungible FSI to the extent of 35% for residential development and 20% for industrial and commercial developments.
The amount collected through premiums will be equally divided between the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and the state government, and used for the city’s infrastructure projects.
With the passage of this new policy, a significant positive development would be the resumption in granting of approvals, with emergence of clarity on the policy front.
Also, the new rules could provide an impetus to land deals, which were earlier stuck owing to lack of policy clarity on FSI norms.
Can we also say thanks to Anna Hazare , for bringing "corruption issues" to the forefront!