Seaside bldgs tagged ‘rundown’ post-2011 entitled to TDR & FSI

Mumbai: Buildings close to the seafront, which have been declared as old and dilapidated after January 6, 2011, will now be able to avail of transfer of development rights (TDR) as well as fungible floor space index (FSI) for redevelopment. This means that such buildings will be entitled to more construction rights during redevelopment. Currently, construction rights for dilapidated buildings that fall under Coastal Regulation Zone-II (CRZ-II) are severely restricted.Areas under CRZ-II are those that have been developed up to or close to the shoreline; most of Mumbai falls under this classification.
Last month, the BMC had issued a fresh circular on the issue after a Bombay high court order struck down its earlier interpretation as “illegal and untenable”. The 2011 CRZ notification stated that buildings identified as cessed, dangerous and dilapidated in the CRZ zone and on the date of the notification—January 6 of that year—will be redeveloped. The high court order of March 2017 held that, “To restrict this category only to the date on which the notification was issued would render the exception, which is given by the Central government, nugatory. It is clarified that these identified buildings would not be restricted to January 6, 2011, but also those that become unsafe subsequently.”
The new circular will benefit even non-cessed buildings in areas like Nepeansea Road. One of the city’s most infamous buildings, Pratibha Towers, which is over 30 years old, may also gain from the decision, said sources. There is a caveat to this, though.
Residents of such buildings cannot immediately celebrate because in November 2017, the National Green Tribunal (principal bench) stayed all CRZ clearances till the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) is approved. The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification was issued in 2011 and, within a year, the new CZMP was to have come into force. It is now seven years since. Last year, the NGT set July 31 as the deadline for finalization of CZMPs for all states.
Since January 2018, the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) has not held a single meeting following the stay. “The hazard line is very important. People living near the sea must be aware of the risks. With rising sea levels and climate change, people living in coastal areas are the most vulnerable. The government should have done its job and then there would have been no need for the NGT to intervene,” said D Stalin, director-conservation for the NGO Vanashakti.
Real estate sources, though, warned that landlords and builders could get even reasonably sturdy buildings declared as “dilapidated” in cahoots with unscrupulous Mhada and BMC officials. “This modus operandi is well-known to allow builders to avail of higher development rights during redevelopment,” they said.
Sources said the biggest beneficiary of the BMC circular (once the CZMP is approved) will be the western suburbs. “Nearly 30% of buildings in the CRZ zone from Mahim to Versova are over 30-40 years old. Bangur Nagar in Goregaon has such buildings in CRZ that could not be redeveloped. But now it will be possible to do so as also buildings at Madh going right up to Dahisar and those near Mahul creek in eastern suburbs,” said Yomesh Rao, member, Practising Engineers, Architects, Town Planners Association (PEATA).
Rao said PEATA had approached the BMC after three such favourable high court orders and the MCZMA granting CRZ clearance for redevelopment of a building that was declared old and dilapidated in 2015.