Indian Express 24.04.2010
Housing societies to be charged Rs 100/sq ft for extra floor space
Shalini Nair Tags : housing, mumbai Posted: Saturday , Apr 24, 2010 at 0142 hrs
Mumbai: With a view to unlocking the value of its land and using it for upgrading the infrastructure, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has decided to ask housing societies going in for redevelopment of its colonies to shell out an extra fee that would be ploughed back for improving water and other infrastructure.The MHADA colonies wanting to go in for redevelopment under the newly-amended development control rules 33/5 that offers a floor space index (FSI) of 2.5 will have to pay a fee of Rs 100 per sq ft of the extra FSI. For instance, if a society on a 10,000-sq ft plot has consumed only 15,000 sq ft, it can purchase another 10,000 sq ft while going in for reconstruction by paying Rs 100 per sq ft. This infrastructure fee would be in addition to the premium charge on the extra FSI.
According to Satish Bhide, chief officer of MHADA’s Mumbai board, the housing board is set to rake in Rs 300 crore through the newly-introduced infrastructure fee. “The money thus collected would be set aside in a dedicated fund and handed over to the BMC, which can then use it to improve infrastructure in our colonies,” said Bhide. A MHADA resolution passed on Friday states that the money could be used by BMC to augment water supply in MHADA colonies.
The state government had increased the FSI for redevelopment of all MHADA colonies to 2.5 in December 2008. Since then nearly 270 societies have come forward for redevelopment and have been granted a no-objection certificate by MHADA. In Mumbai, there are in all 3,900 buildings constructed by MHADA since its inception four decades ago. These large swathes of land spread over a whopping 1,800 hectares are in great demand today from developers eager to cash in on the few large plots of land available in Mumbai.
