NEW DELHI:Today, Maharashtra government has approved Mumbai’s long pending Development plan (DP), which will be in reckoning for the next 20 years. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis sanctioned the new 20-yr development blueprint.
Fadnavis had announced on the last day of the Budget Session (March 28th, 2018) that despite the fact that the State government has 30 months to approve the DP after it is sent by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), his Government would expedite the process to pave the way for development. He had said in the House that he would approve the DP by the end of March.
The DP is a crucial document in determining the city’s land use and infrastructural development for the next 20 years. First there will be a notification, then there will be implementation, said civic commissioner Ajoy Mehta.
BMC has estimated that it will need Rs 14.15 lakh crore for implementation of DP, of which Rs 13.44 lakh crore will be required for land acquisition.
About Rs 49,418 crore will be needed for building construction, Rs 9,472 crore for road construction, Rs 6,193 for open spaces and cemetery development and Rs 5,731 crore for road-widening.
After a series of extensions, BMC’s general body passed DP 2014-34 in August 2017. The first version was released in February 2014, but Fadnavis ordered a revision due to numerous errors and public outcry over the DP being builder-friendly. Soon, BMC announced that open spaces would not be compromised.
The new DP will increase affordable housing by opening up salt pan lands and no-development zones. BMC can now use the special development zone land for constructing affordable housing on spaces encroached by slums.
Under the Accommodation Reservation policy, BMC will move to a platform of partnership with builders whose lands have been reserved for public amenities. The new policy encourages acquisition of land for public purpose and BMC will compensate land owners with additional construction rights if they develop the land and hand it over for public use.