Poonam Mahajan to present IFC infrastructure plan

BJP Member of Lok Sabha from Mumbai North Central, Poonam Mahajan, will make a special presentation before chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday on the issue of building infrastructure in the proposed International Finance Centre (IFC) at Bandra-Kurla Complex.

The presentation will be made at the first ever meeting of the IFC. Ms Mahajan is keen on getting involved in the work of IFC, which will be constructed under the leadership of Union Minister of State for Finance, Jayant Sinha.

“It is a challenge to develop the IFC at 50 acres of land at the BKC. I have proposed underground transport, garbage free area and state-of-the-art complexes for the financial activities,” Ms Mahajan said. She said that the country’s first-ever international arbitration centre would also be launched in the city. “It will be launched in south Mumbai. We will shift it to the IFC once it is operational,” she said.

Ms Mahajan said she would get more active in the city’s affairs with this project. “Yes, I have been working for showcasing Mumbai as the world class city. I have been following up the prominent issues of making the area of international airport free from the slums and removing encroachments on the defence land,” she said.

The IFC will have special tax regulations. Mr Sinha will look after the tax regime at the IFC. It is Mr Fadnavis’s wish to build twin towers on the lines of World Trade Centre at the IFC.

Initially, the union finance ministry was not in a mood to allow the IFC to come up at BKC because of space constraints. As per the norms, at least 200 acres of land was required to build the IFC in contrast to the 50 acres available at BKC.

However, the project was cleared after the state government granted a floor space index (FSI) equivalent to the 200 acres.