Mumbai's realty: Going vertical with a vengeance

Areas which were not too long ago dotted with settlements for mill workers now boast of skyscrapers. Given the city’s high population density, developers argue that high-rises are more convenient and hold the answer to our housing problems. Kishore Rathod sizes up the growth.

When the 500-ft-high, 45-storied Shreepati Arcade came up at Nana Chowk in Grant Road in 2002, it was Mumbai’s tallest building, and continued to be so for eight years, before it was displaced by the 60-storied Imperial Towers at Tardeo in 2010. Today, at least a dozen buildings taller than the Imperial Towers are nearing completion, construction of about 50 towers with as many floors is underway and at least 100 others higher than 70m are in different stages of execution across the island city. What’s more, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) high-rise committee cleared 78 towers just last month.

Making way for new
Several areas in central Mumbai like Lalbaug, Parel and Sewri, which until a few years ago had settlements for housing mill workers and lower-income groups, have now undergone a sea change. They now boast of apartments which cost upwards of Rs5 crore.

Lower Parel, which was once dotted with textile mills, is now in the middle of a metamorphosis. Old, dilapidated structures are being pulled down to make way for sprawling malls, glossy office buildings and skyscrapers. From the 65-storied Indiabulls Sky and the 75-storied tower at the Jupiter Mills site, to the 80-storied Raheja Platinum in Worli and the 55-storied Lodha Bellissimo at Mahalaxmi, these concrete edifices are soaring into the sky, changing the landscape — and the skyline – of central Mumbai.

Architect Hafeez Contractor, the pioneer of superstructures in the city, says, “Mumbai has a population of 20 million and but its area is only 470sqkm. When you are looking at such a large population over a small area of land, vertical is the only way to go.”

He predicts that the city’s population will rise to 30 million in the years to come. “How will Mumbai deal with such an increase [in population]? The only answer is to increase the FSI (floor space index). Only when we do this will the city get on its own feet and earn enough to create the infrastructure that will be needed to sustain this vertical growth.”

The world’s not flat
Builders and architects are concentrating on building skyscrapers primarily because they are convenient — it allows them to create a lot of real estate on a relatively small ground area.

No one knows this better than Abhisheck Lodha, the managing director of Lodha Developers, which is building over a dozen high-rises in the island city, including the 110-storied World One building at Lower Parel. “The aspiration to build the tallest residential building in the world is a reflection of the aspirations of the city. World One marks the arrival of Mumbai on the global stage,” says the 32-year-old.

There are some, though, who feel that Mumbai is not ‘going vertical’ enough. Giving a global perspective to the vertical aspirations, Pirojsha Godrej, executive director, Godrej Properties, says, “Encouraging vertical growth is very important to Mumbai’s future. Many successful land-constrained global cities like Manhattan and Hong Kong have prospered as vertically-dense cities. The problem in Mumbai is that we are too horizontally-dense, and not vertically-dense enough. Even without many tall buildings, Mumbai is already one of the densest urban agglomerations in the world; 60% of Mumbai’s residents live in slums.”

High-rises — and the expensive homes in them — keep cropping up simply because is a huge demand for them. Gulam Zia, national director, research and advisory services, Knight Frank India, “The Indian luxury real-estate market is witnessing an unprecedented growth. The rate of increase in high net-worth individuals is high and these high net-worth players are buyers of the new luxury projects.”

Today’s buyers of big houses have a mindset different from that of conservative homebuyers of the 1980s and 1990s, who were more than happy with even a 2BHK flat. “Today’s buyers of big homes are much younger and richer, are riding the benefits of the economic boom and are keen on enjoying their wealth,” explains Zia.

Cornering amenities
But, is Mumbai equipped to handle such a vertical growth? “Builders are cornering prime properties and are creating a hype to make huge profits,” says urban development expert Chandrashekhar Prabhu. He argues that vertical growth will lead to population density instability and complete chaos in the future.

Citing the example of transfer of development rights (TDR) projects, Prabhu says between 2000 and 2005, when such projects were in full swing, suburbs like Bandra, Khar and Santa Cruz saw unchecked construction activities, which resulted in massive congestion. “The situation will only get worse and high-rises will continue to come up at an unchecked pace if the authorities keep turning a blind eye to developers’ rampant malpractices. Where will the water for all these high-rises come from? Where will these people park their cars and where will they drive them? It will be a nightmare,” warns Prabhu.

Even as Mumbai’s skyline increasingly aspires to look like Shanghai or Dubai, even developers say there are issues which need to be addressed. “There’s no reason why we can’t have both tall buildings and good infrastructure. Both should be created simultaneously. Shanghai and Dubai were also cities with inadequate infrastructure at some point,” argues Godrej, adding that the revenue that the government can get from taxing increased FSI can be used to invest in infrastructure. “If we try to prevent Mumbai’s vertical growth by waiting for infrastructure to improve, we will be ensuring a mediocre future for this great city,” says Godrej.

While naysayers talk about curtailing FSI and restricting vertical growth, pro-development champions argue that the current FSI is way too less.

Niranjan Hiranandani of Hiranandani Constructions says, “Mumbai has one of the lowest FSIs in the world. For housing problems in Mumbai to be solved, we need to go vertical. A fairy tale solution is to have one’s cottage with a vegetable garden, but that is just not possible in India. Low-rises are a luxury and perfect for rich countries while for the middle-class it is high-rises. They are a solution not only for Mumbai but also for India.”

Civic authorities maintain that there is enough capacity for Mumbai to accommodate all new high-rises being planned across the city.

A senior official from the BMC’s building and proposal department that clears every real estate infrastructure project, says, “Every building higher than 24m is technically considered as a high-rise. Only after a builder meets all criteria do we give the sanction for a project. Moreover, every proposal for a building higher than 70m is studied by the specially-appointed high-rise committee, which inspects all aspects of the project, before giving its go-ahead.”

The official adds that adequate measures are being taken to incorporate the requisite changes in terms of augmenting water supply, roads and sewage disposal to ensure a sustainable development.