TOI: FSI for slum rehab to be hiked to 4: July 09, 2008

   In simple terms, this means that if a builder in a slum rehab scheme could construct a five-storey building with FSI 2.5, he could now go up to 15 floors. (FSI is the ratio of the permissible built-up area vis-a-vis the size of the plot.) An increase in the FSI would allow developers additional construction on slum land, which would give them windfall profits under the free sale component. Town planners fear this will further burden an already creaking infrastructure and increase human density on such plots.

 The government’s proposal comes barely days after the chief minister’s office cleared an enhanced floor space index of 4 for the Mumbai-based developer HDIL for rehousing 80,000 slum families encroaching on airport land. 

Sources told TOI that since the airport slum clearance was a ‘public-interest project’, HDIL’s proposal for an FSI of 4 was sanctioned in a record two weeks after it was put up for approval by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA). The file was put up on June 6 and the government order was out on June 20. 

Since then, more slum redevelopers have started lobbying with the government to hike the FSI for slum schemes across the city.

UPSIDE TOWN 

1. Under the SRA scheme, assume ten acres house approximately 10,000 slum dwellers

2.  With an FSI of 2.5, builders could construct a maximum of up to five storeys, with very little open space between the buildings

3.  With an FSI of 4, the buildings can now rise up to a minimum of 15-16 storeys in mega redevelopment schemes anywhere in the city or suburbs

4.  The decision will result in a bonanza for buildersIncreased FSI in slums windfall for Cong man

 

Mumbai: Sources told TOI that one of the biggest beneficiaries of the increase in slum rehab FSI is a top Congress party functionary who has a stake in at least three dozen slum rehab schemes, including three big ones in Santa Cruz, Golibar and Worli.

   On June 23, the SRA issued a notification inviting objections and suggestions from the public regarding the proposed hike in FSI from 2.5 to 4. It’s learnt that only high-density slums—those which have 650 tenements per hectare—will be entitled to an FSI of 4. “All such proposals will have to be cleared by the urban development department, which is headed by chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh,’’ said sources. However, slums with a lower density will be entitled to FSI 3, which can be sanctioned by the SRA itself. 

 A majority of the slums in the city falls into the “high density’’ category. What makes the scheme so lucrative for builders is that the entire FSI of 4 can be used on the plot where slumdwellers will be rehoused.

So far, only an FSI of 2.5 was permitted on a slum rehab plot and anything above that could be used as transfer of development rights (TDR), to be utilised for construction purposes anywhere north of that plot. With TDR no longer as lurcative as it used to be, the utilisation of FSI 4 on the same plot means a huge windfall. 

 The government has justified the higher FSI because the size of each free tenement for slum dwellers has been increased from 225 sq ft to 269 sq ft. “Once HDIL’s proposal for FSI 4 was approved, it was a matter of time before the government sanctioned it for other slum schemes as well,’’ said a Mantralaya official.

 In fact, for HDIL’s airport slum clearance project, the state has relaxed the norm of reserving 25% of a slum rehab plot for a recreation ground. The government order has reduced it to a meagre 8%.

REHAB SCHEME 

The slum rehab scheme was introduced over a decade ago by the then Shiv Sena-BJP government. Builders were required to get the consent of at least 70% of slum dwellers in a settlement before rehousing them in new buildings. Each family was to be given a 269 sq-ft tenement, free of cost. In return, the developers would get extra FSI to build residential towers or commercial space on a portion of the plot.