Mumbai all set for more vertical growth

In a nutshell, wider the road, more will be the vertical limit for buildings surrounding it, and vice versa. On September 21 this year, The Indian Express had carried a news report regarding the government’s proposed move.

The revised policy could result in a windfall for construction projects fronting existing or sanctioned roads that are over 12.2 meter or 40 feet wide. The government has raised the limit for the TDR that can be utilised on such plots.

The TDR or the development rights certificate allows developers construction rights over and above the base FSI when they construct or redevelop buildings. The TDR is generated when a land owner surrenders lands for reserved public amenities or for road widening/new roads in built-up form or rehouses slum dwellers or the project affected persons free of cost. A land owner of a property tagged as a heritage structure can avail TDR for the plot’s development potential that remains unutilised due to restrictions imposed on the construction activity.

About 54.31 per cent of Mumbai’s road network comprises roads wider than 12.2 m or 40 feet. Officials, however, confirmed that the state might have to raise the total permissible buildable area cap imposed in the development control regulations, which restricts the overall floor space index (FSI) for a building proposal to two times the plot size. “The policy for generation and the utilisation of TDR now stands revised. A separate proposal will soon be submitted for suitable revisions to the FSI cap. It is on the anvil,” said a senior official.

Under the erstwhile norms, the TDR utilisation for suburban plots was restricted to 0.5. The revised policy raises this limit to 0.7 for plots fronting roads wider than 12.20 meters but less than 18.30 meters (60 feet). This further goes up to 0.9 for plots abutting roads that are 18.3 m-30 m wide. The highest windfall will be for builders developing plots fronting roads wider than 30 meters, where the TDR limit has been doubled to 1.

While the TDR was previously disallowed in the island city to ease congestion, the Maharashtra government has relaxed this curb. The revised policy entitles plot fronting 9-12.2 m wide roads in the island city to a TDR of 0.37, and for those adjoining 18.30-30 m wide roads to 0.57. A TDR of 0.67 will be admissible for plots over 30 m wide in the island city areas.

Builders are entitled to a basic FSI of 1.33 and 1 respectively in the island city and the suburbs. Besides this, suburban plot builders can avail an additional paid FSI on payment of premium to the municipality. Incidentally, Mumbai’s new development control regulations have extended this perk to the island city areas too. The building right increase further with compensatory or fungible FSI permitted for building common areas. Over and above this, the TDR and road FSI can be loaded for additional building rights. While the thumb rule for suburban projects is that an FSI of 2.7 is permitted for suburban plots, this could now go up to 3.5 for wider roads. The built-up space permitted for constructions in the island city will similarly rise.

But on the other hand, the revised policy spells bad news for plots surrounding narrow plots. The revised policy states that plots served by roads narrower than 9 m or 30 feet cannot utilise the TDR component. Statistics reveal that this would impact plots abutting just over 5% of Mumbai’s roads. “Such projects will have the option of offering land for road widening for availing TDR at a later date,” a senior official said.

The current TDR cap of 0.5 for suburban plots around roads that are 9-12.2 meters wide has been retained, whereas a TDR of 0.17 would now be available for such plots in the island city. About 40.52 per cent of Mumbai’s roads fit in this category.

Government town planners said that an increase in compensation under the Land Act had necessitated the revisions. The Mumbai municipality has been using TDR as a compensatory tool for land acquisition to avoid cash compensation liabilities. “With the Centre increasing the cash compensation, there was a need to make the TDR option equally lucrative,” a senior official said. On lines of cash compensation model, the government has now proposed to offer TDR equivalent to twice the basic FSI eligible for a plot. “This is estimated to almost double the TDR generation levels. The norms for utilisation had to be revised to allow more areas for utilisation of TDR.

While the TDR could previously be loaded only to the north of a plot in the suburbs, the revised policy now makes it applicable across Mumbai. The government has “indexed” the TDR generated for utilisation by linking it to the ready reckoner rates of both plots.