Students turn Mumbai planners

Mumbai: If you have a second property in the city, you cannot keep it unoccupied for long! Instead, you will have to voluntarily declare it vacant and rent it out to needy people.

What’s more, the BMC will act as mediator to help you find a tenant. This is one of the major suggestions in “Mumbai Makeover”, a joint project undertaken by BMC and Observer Research Foundation (ORF) to encourage students participate in formulation of the city’s development plan (DP) 2014-34.

Rupa D’Souza from Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Architecture (BVCA), Navi Mumbai, has recommended using vacant city homes for affordable housing.

According to her study, over 4.6 lakh of the city’s nearly 42 lakh houses (10.5 per cent) are lying vacant. Ms D’Souza said, “Despite Mumbai having a high population density, there is no bylaw regarding vacant properties. An empty home is a wasted resource, both for the owner who could make financial gains by letting out the property and for those who are in need of housing. If the proposed scheme is implemented, unused properties can be brought back into use, thus helping the cause of affordable housing.”

According to her proposal, BMC should form ward-wise teams to find vacant houses in each ward. An assessment of electricity bills for unused meters, or LPG use/health department surveys can indicate that the premises are shut/non-occupied. Upon availability of such data, BMC should make a voluntary declaration of vacant properties and then act as mediator to help find a tenant for the flat owner by holding citizen workshops. BMC would have special powers for renting out and vacating the premises. However, if the owner fails to declare his/her property vacant, he/she should be charged 20 and 30 per cent penalty of the existing property tax for the first and the following year, respectively,  according to the proposal.

A thesis by Driver Berjis Kali from the Lokmanya Tilak Institute of Architecture and Design Studies, Navi Mumbai, has suggested setting up leisure parks across the city to end the growing mall culture in the city. “The leisure park will have everything for family members. In addition to this, it is also proposed to develop open spaces as per their individual and proximal identity,” said a civic official.

A paper by Darpana Bhagat from BVCA insists on a cultural policy for Mumbai to nourish the city’s 200-year-old cultural history. Apart from this, community festivals should be held and tax relief and credit should be given to develop cultural infrastructure in the city, according to the proposal.

A senior civic official from the DP department said, “The students were told to propose their concepts based on the revised draft DP. The selected ideas will be incorporated in BMC policies.”

DP timeline

• The DP 2014-34 had received more than 5,000 public suggestions and objections.
• The DP has been given three extensions so far.
• The RDDP as well as the planning committee’s report, which included suggestions and objections, was submitted to previous mayor Snehal Ambekar on March 6 this year.
• The BMC House will hold discussion on DP on July 14-15.
• The DP needs to be approved and submitted to the state government before July 18.
• The state government will make necessary modifications in the DP if necessary before giving it a final approval.
• The DP will be sent back to the BMC for its implementation in the city.