Allowing premium FSI in island city will increase burden on infrastructure

Mumbai: The state government’s decision of allowing 0.5 premium Floor Space Index (FSI) in the island city, like they have in the suburbs will increase the buildable area which is against the policy of 1991 Development Plan (DP) to encourage more development in the suburbs than in the island city.

It will increase the load on the infrastructure. The new DP is with the government for approval, but the urban development department still made modification in the old DP.

The urban development department has issued a draft notification on Tuesday to allow the premium FSI. They have invited both suggestions and objections and plan to make the modification in the DP. It was a policy decision taken while finalising this DP in 1991, that BMC will encourage more development in the suburb than in the island city because it is overcrowded. So 0.5 premium FSI allowed only in suburbs and 1 FSI plus 1 TDR, but for the island city, only 1.33 FSI is allowed with TDR. But because of new modification, buildable area will increase and will create a burden on infrastructure. The High Court stayed new constructions except redevelopment projects because BMC is not processing the solid waste. The traffic issue is also getting worse day by day. So allowing premium FSI will put more burdens on the infrastructure, sources told.

The new DP is with the government for approval and it is expected that the government will sanction it in 3-4 months. Thus any changes in the policy of existing DP should be brought through DP. There is so much hurry to make changes in the old DP because the government is facing a financial crunch and so they want to increase income from all sources and this decision would help the projects of some developers.