Development spaced out
City has lost over 2 crore sq m of space due to encroachments, administrative apathy………Rajshri Mehta
Your city has missed out on at least 57% over 2 crore sq m of open space and other public utilities.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) records revealed that the planning authority could acquire only 42.60%, or 2.1 crore sq m, land reserved for public amenities under the ongoing Development Plan 1994-2014. The reason, say civic officials, is paucity of funds (to acquire) or the area being encroached by slums, or litigations.
Against this backdrop, the BMC has again begun the process of creating the blueprint for the city’s development post-2014. The exercise-in-futility called the development plan will be undertaken (for the third time ever) with the help of city planners to make Mumbai a world-class city. The civic authorities plan to soon invite city planners to study the progress of the current development plan, ending 2014. The inputs will then become the basis for the blueprint of the city’s development over the 20 years starting March 2014.
The development plan holds significance as it is expected to defines land-use patterns for the city, floor space index (FSI) norms for each area. More often than not, because of lack of political and administrative will, Mumbai has lost out on open spaces and other public amenities that should be proportionate to a given populace. The record of the country’s richest civic body in making Mumbai a liveable city is abysmal. Be it open spaces a mere 0.03 acre per 1,000 people as against the international norm of four acres or population density (30,000 people per sq km against the international norm of over 400 people per sq km), the city’s planning vis-a vis the public amenities has gone for a toss.
As against approximately 4.47 lakh sq m land reserved for public parks, the civic authority could acquire approximately a mere 30,000 sq m of land. Similarly, the authority could acquire only about 442 sq m land reserved for recreation grounds as against 5.29 lakh sq m land earmarked. (See box).
Said Arvind Adarkar, urban planner, “With 50% and more lands already encroached by slum-dwellers, the land naturally could not be acquired for the purpose it is reserved. In fact, with land costs being so high, I believe the city would not have even got the 42% public amenities if it were not the policy of issuing Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) in lieu of giving up the reserved land.”
AT Shintre, chief engineer (development plan), BMC, assures the new plan will overcome these lacunae.