The pilot project will allow a private developer to reconstruct clusters of old buildings on a plot of land that is minimum 25 acres in size. So far the government was considering granting a Floor Space Index of 4 whereby the constructed area would be four times the plot area. However, now officials state that the FSI granted would be sitespecific.
” There will be no specific cap for the pilot project. The more the area, the higher would be the FSI. It could be 2, 4 or even 5 FSI depending on the area of the project. We will appoint an expert committee to study the proposal and decide on the FSI to be granted,” said Sanjay Ubale, secretary for Special Projects.
He added that the department has recommended names of former municipal commissioner DM Sukhtankar, civil engineer and urban planner Shirish Patel along with several others as members of the committee.
The integrated redevelopment model also looks at developing the roads, drains, sewarage, water pipelines and other infrastructure of the area. Already 12 developers have submitted their proposals for the pilot project for areas like Chira Bazaar, Girgaum, Worli. One of them would receive the approval from the government soon.
Officials added that the cluster redevelopment projects apart from the pilot project will be given an FSI of 4.
The prevailing FSI in the island city is 1.33 while in the suburbs it is a maximum of 2.
The government is in the process of amending DCR 33 (9) whereby for the sake of urban renewal, tenanted properties, chawls and other buildings belonging to public authorities like MHADA or BMC an FSI of 4 can be used.
The amendment will extend the benefit of the additional FSI to even private buildings if the plot is taken up for cluster redevelopment.