Deepak Parekh, others in Lok Group-floated panel that proposes JVs with govt
to rebuild old, unsafe buildings.
Kavitha Iyer
For those frustrated by the dawdling makeover of Mumbai,
here is yet another committee promising the “remaking of Mumbai”. And this
time, a builder-conceived plan is eyeing prime real estate offered by
redeveloping 16,000-odd buildings that pay a repair cess to the government,
while promising to upgrade and augment city infrastructure alongside.
Thwarted earlier on his proposal to undertake the redevelopment of all
dilapidated buildings, Lalit Gandhi, chairman and managing director of Lok
Group, is now proposing a federation to undertake the task in joint ventures
with government agencies. And already, he has convened a “core founder
committee”, with names such as HDFC chief Deepak Parekh and Bombay First
chairman Narinder Nayar on board, apart from Municipal Commissioner Johny
Joseph, former bureaucrats and activists. The committee met on February 17.
A case of too many committees and too little action? “We can only form
committees,” says Parekh. “It’s only the government that can take action.
Unfortunately, we’re waiting for action on too many things-the Urban Land
Ceiling Act, the housing policy, transit housing before redeveloping slums.”
Meanwhile, Gandhi has made a presentation to politicians, city planners and
former bureaucrats, titled ‘Remaking of Mumbai focusing on reconstruction of
unsafe/ dilapidated buildings and upgrading city infrastructure through
public-private partnership by a proposed Remaking of Mumbai Federation’.
“Our next step is to form the Remaking of Mumbai Federation,” says Gandhi,
adding that these supporting organisations, associations of builders and
architects etc will then build consensus on basic concepts before signing a
memorandum of understanding with the state or Centre.
Problem is, not everybody believes the real estate route he proposes is
ideal. (See Box). At the committee’s meeting, former chief secretary D M
Sukthankar pointed out that an FSI of 4 might be “unmanageable”. Developer
Mofatraj Munot, chairman of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry
which is one of the proposed federation partners, said they had expressed
“some reservations” at the meeting, though there is “no disagreement” on the
need for planning.
“We do seem to be reinventing the wheel,” said Nayar, adding he wanted to
support any credible move for the city’s overhaul.
Parekh, who’s keen to support “anything on improving the quality of life in
Mumbai”, said he’d pointed out at the meeting that various reports and
stakeholders’ opinions should be taken into account before planning ahead.
URL : http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=226533