Residential buildings at Mumbai may get up to 35% compensatory FSI over and above the permissible
construction limit after the town planning department tweaked BMC chief Subodh
Kumar’s proposal to overhaul Mumbai’s building laws. The FSI or floor space index defines how much can be built
on a plot.
The department’s
recommendation, if approved by the state government, could
come as a relief for city builders because Kumar’s plan offered 25% extra FSI
if developers paid a 100% premium
for it. Builders were unhappy as the commissioner’s proposal also included the 10% balcony area,
which was always available free of FSI
and without payment of premium.
They said Kumar’s new proposal
amounted to just 15% extra FSI.
However, there is still
no clarity if the premium will now sought to be charged on the free-of-FSI balcony
areas. The commissioner is likely to insist that premium be
charged on the balcony
areas too if the overall
compensatory FSI is increased to 35%.
Several developers are saying that the compensatory
FSI for commercial buildings — proposed
at 15% — be increased to 25%. Why this discrimination between
commercial and residential developments., that compensatory FSI
for commercial
development should be more than residential ones, considering
various planning aspects and essential requirements. The BMC plans to charge a 200%
premium on compensatory FSI for commercial
buildings.
Kumar’s proposal, which
has caused a stir within Mumbai’s powerful builders’ lobby, was whetted by the Deputy Director of the Town Planning Department, who heard 900 suggestions and objections from citizens,
architects and associations representing developers. The department’s own
recommendations will be submitted to the State Urban Development
Department next week, after which the new policy is expected to
be approved by the end of November 2011. The BMC hopes to earn annual revenue of
Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 3,000 crore by charging a premium on this compensatory
FSI.
Kumar is the first civic
chief in over a decade who attempted to curb the discretionary powers vested in
the municipal commissioner to sanction building concessions. 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 and it allowed
developers to build an additional 50% to 80% above the permitted built-up 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 was often shown as part of the living room or bedroom by
the builder.
One of the biggest modus operandi
of some builders was to show a
free-of-FSI car parking deck on each floor. The car deck, each 1,500 to
2,000 sq ft large, would be sold to the flat buyer with the understanding that
he could then merge this area into the apartment to make it
larger. The BMC has now proposed that car deck areas be included in the
building’s FSI. “Any additional
parking floor in excess of what is required shall be counted in the FSI,’’
it said.
“The suggestions seem to
be wise. With the specifications in place it leaves very limited chance for
builders to bend the rules without going into blatantly illegal work. Little Room for Manoeuvre Extravagant elevation features
and flower beds are now not allowed to extend beyond 1.2 m of the building.
Earlier, commissioners permitted
these protrusions in excess of 3m, which were later misused by flat owners Voids
within the building, which were sometimes as large as 1.5 m to 4m, are totally banned as people would illegally
fill up these voids and extend their apartment provision for a servant’s toilet
at every floor level (free of FSI) has also been cancelled as flat owners
merged them into their living area.
This facility is now
permitted only at mid-landing of the staircase Swimming pools and lily ponds
are no longer sanctioned in a flat. These amenities can now be
provided only on the terrace or at ground level, which is open to the sky.
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