Restrictions on height of buildings due to airport proximity
The civic improvements committee on Wednesday gave its nod for a proposal to allot 147.77 hectares of municipal land to the Dharavi redevelopment project. While the largest slum is Asia is bracing itself for a makeover, it will, unlike the rest of the city, not be able to go completely vertical. The buildings that will come up as part of the Dharavi redevelopment project will have height restrictions due to its proximity to the airport. Civic officials warned that the redevelopment project will also face shortage of land.
“The lack of adequate land is a major problem in the rehabilitation of large number of slum dwellers in Dharavi. Hence, it was necessary to have tall buildings for rehabilitation. But as the Dharavi area comes in the vicinity of Mumbai airport, there are restrictions on building heights in the proposed development,” said a senior civic official.
There are also other restrictions like leaving required open spaces around the railway route and high-pressure electricity wires. Furthermore, as Dharavi is near the creek, the coastal regulation zone (CRZ) rules also need to be followed. Hence the land use has become more limited, he added.
The BMC stands to get more than 11,757 tenements for the project-affected persons (PAPs) and also a premium of Rs 1,220 crore as land value. The state government has appointed Dharavi Redevelopment Authority (DRA) for the improvement of Dharavi, which is considered the largest and highly populated slum pocket in Asia. A floor space index (FSI) of four would be used for the project, which aims at providing rehabilitation tenements to 58,343 eligible slum dwellers in the region. With the redevelopment project, the BMC is also likely to get a new construction area of 20.27 hectares, which will be replete with amenities like school, dispensaries, social welfare centres, gymnasiums, halls, libraries, markets, fire stations etc. In addition to this, 19.29 hectares of developed land featuring gardens, grounds, parking lots would also be available for the civic body.
The proposal will now be tabled in the civic house for approval and then will be sent to the state government for implementation.
