Mukesh Mehta: New building norms are good for Mumbai

Mumbai municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has proposed sweeping changes in the Development Control Regulations (DCR). The chief minister is convinced that these changes are essential.

The government notification will be published shortly while builders are up in arms, threatening to seek the intervention of courts to delay the inevitable. They hope and pray that Subodh Kumar retires before these changes are implemented and somehow a ‘catastrophe’ can be averted. Some even have the temerity to speculate that ‘the CM will go back to New Delhi’.

Over the years, the construction industry has thrived on manipulating the DCR and constructing additional built-up area (BUA) in mischievous ways in the form of flower beds, fire escapes, AC rooms, niches and other fake nomenclatures.

These are free of the floor space index (FSI) calculations and yet, the buyer is charged for every square foot of the BUA by calling it Super-BUA (SBUA). Buyers usually have no idea of the actual carpet area they get.

In the early days, buildings were sold by carpet areas. In the 1960s, buildings began to be sold by BUA, which includes walls and some passages, but excludes lifts, staircases, common passages, flowerbeds and other non-living spaces. The built-up area counted in the FSI was between 10% and 20% more than the carpet area. Somewhere, ethical lines blurred as avarice took over.

Perhaps, the developers were very anxious to get land in a booming market. Perhaps, the land owners demanded unrealistic prices for their properties. The former, aided by crafty architects and corrupt officials, cleverly manipulated the building code and obtained maximum possible BUA free of FSI.

This helped them substantially spread the cost of land among higher area thereby reducing the cost component of the land per square foot of built up area.

Taking advantage of the market boom, the developers sold this SBUA in the form of flower beds, voids, chhajjas at the same price as living spaces, promising to illegally add on such areas into living spaces at a later date once the corporation issued occupation certificates. The municipal inspectors blatantly turned a blind eye to such transgressions.

The manipulation and duplicity has now reached a nadir. These days, the SBUA is between 70% and 100% more than the carpet area. Some developers offer SBUA that is 100 % to 300% more than carpet area!

While there are windfall profits for such unscrupulous builders, the buyers are terribly shortchanged and corruption flourishes like never before. Some MCGM building proposal department engineers are rumoured to have personally made tens of crores during their short stints because of their complicity. Some politicians too unabashedly fill their ever bulging pockets.

The systemic deterioration in the building approvals are resulting in incredibly larger BUA than legal limits. Hence, although the official FSI of the city may be 1.00 to 1.33, the actual SBUA exceeds it by 50% to 100%. So while the builder and corrupt officers make merry, there are no financial gains for the cash-starved corporation, which services a much larger than permissible BUA.

In fact, the corporation loses out on the actual taxes it has to charge due to higher built-up area. The buyer is shortchanged because a substantial part of his/her living space is illegally constructed and thus carries the risk of demolition. In the meantime, Mumbaikars cry themselves hoarse over inadequate infrastructure.

It is no secret that one of Prithviraj Chavan’s most important goals is to clean up the systemic manipulations and corruption in the state.

It is rumoured that Chavan handpicked Kumar, a highly intelligent man who has earned an impeccable reputation for his courage and conviction and integrity, to clean up the corporation and persuaded him to return to Maharashtra from New Delhi where he was on deputation. When Kumar was made commissioner, he had only a year of service left before his retirement.

In keeping with his reputation, after conducting a thorough study of the rampant abuse of the building code, he has acted with alacrity and decisiveness to plug most loopholes in the building code.

This will drastically minimise the indiscriminate use of discretionary powers of senior officers much to the chagrin of some builders. By making such changes in the DCR, he seeks to bring about permanence in curbing the prevailing malpractices.
There is absolutely no merit to the misconception that the changes proposed are anti-developer or anti-buyer.

Most developers want to operate honestly, professionally and cleanly. Unfortunately they are compelled to follow the crooked ones only to remain competitive. The buyers also want to pay only for the area they can obtain legally.

While projects in the pipeline will be affected due to the amendment and developers’ profits will take some beating, the long-term benefits far surpass the short-term losses. In the long run, builders will pay realistic prices for land. Building approvals will be speedier. Bribe amounts will reduce dramatically. All this will bring down the cost of construction per square foot drastically.

The purchaser may still have to pay whatever the market dictates, but the builders will consider reduced costs and quicker turnaround time while pricing their property. By legalising and yet controlling the loopholes, the corporation also gains.

It will charge the developer premium for permitting construction of up to 25% additional area for residential buildings and up to 15% for commercial and industrial buildings. Thus the corporation will get a premium in excess of Rs2500 crore. Municipal taxes will also be calculated based on actual built-up area rather than the manipulated one.

Thus the corporation will have a much deserved financial gain. So, land owners’ and corrupt officers’ loss will become the taxpayers’ and property buyers’ gain.

Equally important is the fact that from now on there will be precise data available to determine actual construction area and plan infrastructure suitably.

For a change ‘the fish is not stinking from its head’. We now have a visionary chief minister with impeccable integrity who is on a clean-up mission and a competent municipal commissioner who is a man in hurry. Together they are capable of improving the work ethics in the corporation as well as the quality of life in Mumbai significantly.

But we have a long way to go and, Mr Chief Minister, one year of Mr Subodh Kumar is simply not enough.

A former ambassador, the writer is a novelist, columnist, and an artist