BMC gears up for ‘mini DP’ of 114 hectares land

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will now go through the entire process of making the Development Plan yet again, this time for an area of 114 hectares — essentially a ‘mini DP’. This area has been newly added in the BMC limits, and earlier belonged to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). Since this land did not belong to the BMC while it was drafting the Development Plan 2034, there is no blueprint of the kind of development that needs to take place in this area. The civic body recently published a notice to declare its intention of drafting a DP for this region.

A total of 114 hectares of land distributed in three areas was handed to the civic body for development recently. This is distributed in the area of the Bandra Kurla Complex, between the Mithi river and LSB road (27.36 hectares), and A block in BKC (47.37 hectares). The remaining 37.30 hectares lies in the Oshiwara district centre.

Ramanath Jha, officer on special deputation for the DP said, “The land transfer is not a recent development. But when the land was handed over to us, we had already initiated the DP-making process. We didn’t want to delay or disrupt it. So we left out the planning for this patch, and went ahead with the DP. We will take up chalking out the DP for these areas soon.”

As the BMC has just notified that it will start making the DP, the actual process will take a few weeks to begin. A civic official said a fresh committee will be set up to draft this ‘mini DP’, which may consist of the same architects and urban planners involved in making of the DP 2034. This team will then conduct spot visits of the areas and map its topography and available infrastructure. It will then take a call on the kind of development required in these areas, in the departments of solid waste management, storm water drains, and sanitation.

Mr Jha said, “We do not have an account of what infrastructure is available. Usually the state government takes a call on transfer of land between agencies, if it finds that an area will benefit by planning provided by the respective agency.” The plan mapping the new areas within the city limits is available at the BMC headquarters.