Mumbai's known history dates back to as early as 150 A.D. when City of Bombay, as it was known then, consisting of several islands was ruled by kolis and agris, the native inhabitants.
These natives ruled the islands upto 1345 A.D. Thereafter, the rulers changed down the history till the Islamic rulers invaded India and conquered some of the islands in 1534 A.D.
Subsequently, a Muslim ruler from Gujarat took over all the islands, which were then conquered by the Portuguese. In 1661 A.D., the island of Bombay was added to the Britishers as a part of Royal Dowry, on the occasion of the marriage of King Charles II of England with the Portuguese princess Infanta Catherine.
The island of Bombay, was then to remain the part of British Empire till 15th August,1947, on which day our country saw the first dawn of independence from foreign rule.
Mumbai, extending from Colaba in the south, to Mulund and Dahisar in the north, and Mankhurd in the east, is administered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
About 40 buildings have already been demolished for re-development till now. Towers which are anywhere from 15 floors to 25 floors are being built using the similar land coverage where stood 4 storey buildings.
Hopefully the main sewage and water supply system has adequate capacity to take this additional influx of residents. The approach roads have not been widened to take care of additional car movement which is likely, once all these projects are commissioned.
The strong nexus of developer and municipal officials is evident when one observes closely the manner in which public roads are blatantly being occupied by the building contractors for storing building materials, cement mixers etc. There is no concern for safety of passers-by who get struck by falling stones, pebbles due to absence of safety nets..The above incidents are visible to an eye of a layman.
What gets hidden is the inadequacies of the other public utility systems, which only time will reveal ! As someone had said only God can save Mumbai from this human catastrophe !!
These natives ruled the islands upto 1345 A.D. Thereafter, the rulers changed down the history till the Islamic rulers invaded India and conquered some of the islands in 1534 A.D.
Subsequently, a Muslim ruler from Gujarat took over all the islands, which were then conquered by the Portuguese. In 1661 A.D., the island of Bombay was added to the Britishers as a part of Royal Dowry, on the occasion of the marriage of King Charles II of England with the Portuguese princess Infanta Catherine.
The island of Bombay, was then to remain the part of British Empire till 15th August,1947, on which day our country saw the first dawn of independence from foreign rule.
Mumbai, extending from Colaba in the south, to Mulund and Dahisar in the north, and Mankhurd in the east, is administered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
The city is constrained by its inability to expand horizontally on the West and South, thanks to Arabian sea. The island city has grown far and wide towards the North (Vasai, Virar suburbs fall within city practically speaking) and Navi Mumbai suburbs as well.
Real estate prices have ruled the roost in Mumbai since time immemorial naturally due to paucity of empty tracts of land and on the other side ample demand fed by thriving business and commercial activities.
Although FSI in Mumbai is lower in general as compared to global megapolis like New York, Seoul, Singapore the consideration with respect to setbacks, street widening, % building footprint are extremely lax in this city. More specifically, in south Mumbai the FSI has come down from 3.5 to 1.33. However other critical parameters with respect to public free space, parking lots, approach roads etc..are compromised in many of the re-development / new constructed buildings in Mumbai.
TDR (transfer of developmental rights) was a nice innovative model of buying FSI from some far off suburbs / location, for deploying the same in a high demand location. It has worked well for BMC, who got loads of revenue and real estate developers started selling the built-up space at super built up premium rates.This is unlike in other developed cities such as New York, where a TDR can be used in adjacent building only so that total FSI in a block remains constant.
TDR (transfer of developmental rights) was a nice innovative model of buying FSI from some far off suburbs / location, for deploying the same in a high demand location. It has worked well for BMC, who got loads of revenue and real estate developers started selling the built-up space at super built up premium rates.This is unlike in other developed cities such as New York, where a TDR can be used in adjacent building only so that total FSI in a block remains constant.
Since all real estate development is palatable only if corresponding urban infrastructure planning was done in tandem the potential catastrophe of Mumbai may not be too far, until concretisation of Mumbai is complete. What we would have is utter chaos on the road due to inadequate approach and exits, overloaded sewage system, inadequate water supply, overloaded electric supply system etc..
Let us examine this with a building re-development in a Bandra suburb .
Access roads, footpaths, Storm water drainage, Sewage system, Drinking water facility, Parking provisions are essentially the constituents of a Urban infrastructure planning.
A colony with about 100 buildings each with 4 storeys each having two residential flats of average 600 sq ft. Such a colony coming for re-development since it has run its life of 45 years means, an opportunity of atleast 5 lakh+ sq ft.
About 40 buildings have already been demolished for re-development till now. Towers which are anywhere from 15 floors to 25 floors are being built using the similar land coverage where stood 4 storey buildings.
Hopefully the main sewage and water supply system has adequate capacity to take this additional influx of residents. The approach roads have not been widened to take care of additional car movement which is likely, once all these projects are commissioned.
The strong nexus of developer and municipal officials is evident when one observes closely the manner in which public roads are blatantly being occupied by the building contractors for storing building materials, cement mixers etc. There is no concern for safety of passers-by who get struck by falling stones, pebbles due to absence of safety nets..The above incidents are visible to an eye of a layman.
What gets hidden is the inadequacies of the other public utility systems, which only time will reveal ! As someone had said only God can save Mumbai from this human catastrophe !!
Hi Parag, Well written... reminds me of Bahrain-PMO project wherein benchmarks of Dubai, Australia all suggests that building approval is not provided without adequete infrastructure outside...wonder when will sense prevail...Vishy
ReplyDeleteYou have highlighted a very relevant issue. There is an utter lack of town planning in our cities. The real problem runs much deeper. Its the uncaring attitude of the authorities and the fatalistic acceptance of status quo among the general public. I had the misfortune of driving thru andheri kurla road today after a long time. The apathy of the road maintaining dept is really appalling. And to think that commuters have bearing these conditions for several years now, is simply unbelieveable.....we need to make our tax money accountable.
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