TOWERING BIZ DISTRICT ON MbPT LAND - Gadkari Plans India's Tallest Commercial Building in Mumbai : The Economic Times

New Delhi:



The 130-storey building will house mostly offices with other amenities

India's tallest commercial building is set to come up in Mumbai, with the Nitin Gadkari-led ministry of shipping proposing to construct a towering `business district' on Mumbai Port Trust land to monetise the asset and ease the space crunch in the country's financial capital. “It will be a 130-storey building and will house mostly offices along with other amenities. We are working on the plan and it's still in the initial stages,“ Gadkari told ET.

The project, which may cost more than ` . 10,000 crore, is likely to be developed without costing the government a single penny , financed with funds raised from pre-booking of space from public sector units and private companies. The proposed building would be in the vicinity of Nariman Point, once considered Mumbai's leading business district, and the Fort area in south Mumbai. Other business districts in the city include the Bandra Kurla Complex, which was set up in the suburbs to decongest the commercial areas of south Mumbai.

Apart from the number of floors, little else is known about the building. The contours of the project, including the location of the building in the port trust premises, are yet to be finalised.The ministry is engaging an international consultant to prepare the blueprint for the project. “A separate master plan for the port land would be prepared and this building would be a part of it. We are yet to finalise the land parcel and the area for this building,“ a senior government official said.

The government is likely to undertake the project on its own -land won't be given to private builders for redevelopment. “If the logistics issues of evacuation of people without stressing the cargo-laden port roads are addressed, the proposed 130storey building will have a dem onstrative effect on a mechanism for monetising land assets owned by ports,“ said Jaijit Bhattacharya, Partner-Infrastructure at KPMG.

Mumbai is home to many of the country's tallest buildings, most of which are residential. The 52storey Kohinoor Square at Dadar in the city -a mixed-use build ing that includes residential proper ty -is the tallest commercial tower in India.

The Lodha Group's World One Tower, a residen tial project being built in the Upper Worli area of Mumbai with 117 floors, will be the tallest skyscraper in the country when it is complet ed next year. Mumbai Port Trust owns 1,800 acres of prime land in south and south-central Mumbai.

Several previous attempts to monetise the land have ended in controversy . This time, Gadkari is helming efforts to provide some relief to the space-deprived capital of Maharashtra and the project has been put on the fast track.