MUMBAI CITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2005-2025

4. 4.1.

HOUSING Existing Situation The population of the city of Mumbai has crossed the 1 crore mark, out of which about 55-60% of the population resides in hutments. The data on housing stock in Mumbai is not readily available, as most of the housing in Mumbai is managed through the private sector, save except for housing for slums, which is mostly carried out under the various schemes by the Government (through SRA) as well as the MCGM. To facilitate a perspective, indicative assessment has been done which is presented below. For the purposes of future projections this shall be used. While it is felt that limited slum families (@ 10,000/yr) may have been accommodated through R&R over a period of 4 years, this still leaves about 11.5 lakh households living in slums/shanties.
Year Slum population (lakh) Total Population (lakh) Formal Housing (in Lakh) Houses for slums (in lakh)

2001 2010 2020

69.00 65.04 60.35

119.14 129.13 150.39

12.54 16.03 22.51

12 11 10

Source: MCGM data on slum and total population projections presented in ESR 2004-05.

Slum rehabilitation needs to be undertaken on priority basis in order to bridge this huge gap. Public funds alone cannot support this massive development required for accommodating slums. As regards the housing for the formal sector, the city area is saturated and there is very little scope presently for new development. The housing stock in the city region has generally remained more or less stagnant till the sudden change towards rehabilitation of old buildings, redevelopment of mill land areas. Much of the development in the housing sector is witnessed in the suburbs. While this may be so, as per the data on land use for residential development, available land remaining for residential use is only 10 sq km. This suggests that the housing sector is severely constrained due to lack of adequate land available for housing development. Both the GoM as well as the GoI have come out with various schemes targeted towards facilitating housing for accommodating slums. While a number of visionary policies have been in force for addressing the need for the households residing in slums, the need is still felt due to the huge gap and scarcity of lands in
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MUMBAI CITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2005-2025

Mumbai.

Majority of the people residing in the hutments is from economically and socially weaker strata. To provide permanent tenements & other civic amenities, State Government has expanded the scope of the Slum Redevelopment Scheme. The hutments existing before 1st January 1995 & the families residing therein are protected under this scheme. Under this scheme, each slum dweller is to be given a self-contained tenement of minimum 225 sq. ft.
Year Slum population Total Population Percentage of slum Population

2001 2010 2020

Year

69.00 65.04 60.35

Number of Slum dwellers in Lakh

119.14 129.13 150.39

57.31 50.30 40.12

Percentage of slum dwellers having access to Water supply Drainage system

2001

69.00

92%

4 hectares out of 3030 hectares population of slum area.

The slum redevelopment scheme has received 1,311 proposals for redevelopment till 30th April 2005. Out of these, 720 proposals are sanctioned and further 348 proposals are being scrutinized. 1,82,856 tenements are to be redeveloped under the sanctioned proposals. Out of these 81,671 tenements under 550 schemes are given certificates to proceed with the construction. The families previously residing in the hutments are rehabilitated in 39,248 redeveloped tenements i.e. about 1,20,000 citizens are residing in their own houses till 15th April 2004 under this scheme. Under this scheme, obstructions to the traffic will be removed at 200 locations. Schools are being constructed to accommodate 7500 students. As an added benefit, the 25 acres of land reserved for gardens & playgrounds, which was covered by hutments, is now available as open spaces. Apart from MCGM and SRA, MHADA is also a key agency responsible for providing low cost housing to EWS/LIG and MIG households in Mumbai. The MHADA develops schemes and invites bids for the proposals. VAMBAY is one scheme of GoI implemented through MHADA. Besides this, MHADA is also responsible for rehabilitation/redevelopment of old and dilapidated buildings in Mumbai. MHADA identified 19642 old buildings, which were called Cessed Buildings wherein a cess is charged on them to enable MHADA to undertake their repairs and reconstruction. The details of cessed buildings are as given below:

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MUMBAI CITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2005-2025

Table 1: Details of cessed Buildings in Greater Mumbai Year of Construction Category of Cess Bldg

No. of Buildings

Constructed before 1.9.1940 Constructed between 1.9.1940 and 31.12.1969 Constructed between 1.1.1951 to 30.9.1969
Total

A B C

16,502 1,489 1,651

19,642

Over the time, some of the buildings have collapsed, been demolished and reconstructed, which have been excluded from the list. The remaining cessed buildings to be reconstructed are approximately 16,378. MHADA has estimated that it would cost about Rs. 300 crore over the short term and Rs. 5000 crore in the long term to redevelop all such properties. A proposal for this purpose has already been submitted to the GoI for possible funding through JNNURM. While a number of innovative measures have been undertaken by the State Government to address the housing demand and pro-poor housing in the form of TDR, cross-subsidization, incremental FSI (e.g. Dharavi Redevelopment Project), the impact of such measures has not resulted in the development of the housing sector. This calls for a review of existing strategies and laws to define a proactive strategy for meeting the housing demand. Any further development may be constrained due to the conflict with land use restrictions and disaster vulnerability. Redevelopment may be explored in the suburbs, which would facilitate accommodating incremental demand.

4.1.1. Need for Reforms in the Housing Sector

Land use regulations have costs and benefits. They should be tested and regularly subjected to audit to make sure that their benefits are larger than their costs. The current FSI regulations and the land supply restrictions implied by the CRZ and the salt pan lands should be the subject of a cost benefit analysis. The quasi-uniform FSI imposed on Mumbai distorts the spatial structure of the city. The FSI regulation is applied uniformly throughout the city. Business districts are subject to the same FSI as residential areas, preventing the formation of a new, modern and well-located business district. The uniform FSI and the practice of TDR force higher densities in far away suburbs and lower densities in downtown areas, resulting in increasing travel distances and preventing the growth of a modern dense CBD with all the advantages of spatial concentration and economy of scale. The practice in world class cities is to have very large variations in FSI between the CBD or other employment nodes and suburban residential areas. Typically, FSI in other large cities vary from 10 in the CBD to 0.3 . In the case of Mumbai, a reform of the FSI norm would require not so much increasing the average FSI than differentiating the FSI between different parts of the city. This could be applied on a regional basis. Buildings within a radius of 1 km from a railway station or at the stations where several lines are joining could be allowed a higher FSI of upto from 5 to 10. By contrast, more remote areas in
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MUMBAI CITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2005-2025

environmentally fragile or attractive areas could be given an FSI lower than 1. The FSI in intermediary areas should be adjusted to reflect the spatial policy of the metropolitan area. In cities with high topographical constraints (like New York, San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro, etc.) the FSI is normally higher than in cities built in a plain without topographical obstacles. The geographical location of Mumbai suggests that a high average FSI would be appropriate with locational variations. Needless to say, such increases should be matched by a system to assure that adequate infrastructure is provided to such locations. The need for housing and unmet demand is presently met through the neighboring ULBs/areas adjoining Mumbai, viz., Thane, Vasai, Kalyan-Dombivili, Panvel, Ambernath etc. which have witnessed potential growth in the past and this has burdened the civic authorities in these areas. Where strategies for commercial/services sector development are proposed, such proposals could be accompanied with identification of land for housing as a priority wherever possible.
CRZ as one of the Land Use Constraints

For a city that is bound by sea on 3 sides, the CRZ regulation has imposed restrictions on the development in the city. The existing regulations, limited regulatory control and high demand have forced encroachment resulting in unauthorized constructions in CRZ lands rather than protecting them. As far as Mumbai is concerned, the benefit of CRZ needs to be reviewed from economic perspective and not purely from environmental perspective. The CRZ objectives were to protect the natural environment along coastlines. While the benefits of the CRZ applied to Mumbai are difficult to identify, the costs are easy to quantify: what is not built within the 500 m from the coast has to be built elsewhere, lengthening commuting distance, increasing the energy required and therefore the pollution emitted by the city. The costs of the CRZ to the citys economy and environment should be precisely quantified through a formal study. 4.2. Key Issues and Strategy Options/Plans The key issues plaguing the sector are categorized into legal/reform oriented and scarcity of land resource, affordability of the households living in slums and willingness to pay/contribute for housing, de-reservation of land and change in land use classification for housing purposes, lack of adequate security to raise resources. Creating substantial increase in housing stock is one way of minimizing rising costs of formal housing and making it affordable across the economic categories. However, how far this is practically possible is to be analyzed depending on the implications of revised FSI norms and opportunities for investments in the sector. Pro-poor strategies need to be evolved which will facilitate access to financing and access to housing in a manner, which will enable slum redevelopment. Cross-subsidization seems therefore to be a possible approach wherever feasible and could be explored to the extent possible.

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MUMBAI CITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2005-2025

Some of the key issued and strategic options are summarized below. It is necessary to note that any policy measure proposed or strategy outlined needs to be supported with appropriate analysis. For formulation of an appropriate housing sector policy and strategy for development, this therefore needs to be undertaken expeditiously. PPPs seem to be yet unexplored but potential approach for development in the sector, which could be supported through appropriate regional variations permitted in FSI to facilitate investment and develop housing stock. For projects to be structured on PPP approach would require detailed assessment of commercial potential cross-subsidizing the EWS/LIG.
Key Issues Strategy Options / Plans

Land scarcity for housing

Formulate an urban renewal plan for freeing up land for housing with due consideration to disaster vulnerability and carrying capacity. Undertake a study to delineate areas which could be redeveloped on an urban renewal approach.

Inadequate Housing stock

Review policy level measures and strategies recommended in different studies conducted. Study implications of suggested measures, as to how much stock can be generated and how the interventions can be targeted to boost pro-poor housing.

Inadequate Housing for slums

Review the policy for provisioning of housing for slums and evolve appropriate strategy for facilitating access. Formulate sectoral strategy for redevelopment of slum areas across different locations. The policy for implementation of projects for slum area redevelopment should be centered around the projects attracting private sector participation and any strategic measures required to support the projects.

Reconstruction of residential buildings

old

Explore Public-Private-Partnership based approach and identify areas for redevelopment based on urban renewal. Undertake a strategic options study on areawise basis to review interventions, implications of such interventions, to evolve implementation frameworks and to delineate supporting

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MUMBAI CITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2005-2025

Key Issues

Strategy Options / Plans

measures required to be taken by the State Government for this purpose. Redevelop old congested residential areas such as BDD chawl and similar areas having commercial potential, on a PPP format based on detailed feasibility document and a business plan for redevelopment. Legal & Policy related for addressing market constraints Undertake reform measures suggested (repeal of ULCRA, amendment to Rent Control laws) Identify and implement policy measures

Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai