DP pushes vertical limit, to cramp people into less space

MUMBAI: One of the most densely populated cities in the world may get more crowded, again.

The civic body has decided to increase the number of homes that can be built on a single plot of land. The move is likely to have a cascading effect — not only will this pave the way to cramp more people into a single plot of land, but it will also burden an already crumbling infrastructure.

In its newly released development control regulations (DCR 2034), the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to increase to 450 the number of homes that can be built per hectare. In the 1991 DCR, it was 342 for the suburbs, and 406, when the island city was considered.

Even the city’s new draft development plan (DP), which was scrapped last year, proposed to allow only 250 homes per hectare.

To increase this figure to 450, experts said, will bring on dangerously high population densities.

On paper, this is a minor change. But here are two reasons why this will have a major impact.

First, unlike in 1991, this DP is proposing to open up some 3,000 hectares of land from erstwhile no development zones, port trust lands and salt pans. The second reason is the burgeoning effect this will have when combined with the ceiling-high floor space index (FSI) currently allowed — quick calculations by HT show just how crowded the city will get when redeveloped under the new rule.

CONTINUED ON P11

RELATED REPORTS, P2