‘Don’t merely correct DP errors, make holistic plan’: Times of India

MUMBAI: A group of campaigners and experts met on Wednesday evening to discuss the issues that they wanted the revised draft Development Plan (DP) 2034 to address.

The public meeting conducted by the Urban Design Research Institute was held at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalay auditorium in Fort.

Pankaj Joshi, executive director of UDRI, pointed that there was active engagement by citizens in the draft DP 2034. "The BMC was open to suggestions, however, it did not reflect in the Proposed Land Use (PLU) plan. This disconnect cannot be understood. Besides the DP 2034 draft published in February spoke about how the authorities aimed at a competitive, sustainable and inclusive plan but this too did not reflect in the proposal," said Joshi. "Out of the total 450 sq km space of the city, almost three-fourths of it has been left out with the authorities claiming that it is out of their scope. This gave the impression that the authorities were preparing the DP 2034 only for a certain section of the city," he added. "The informal sectors of the city are completely missing. Besides there are roads being shown cutting from gaothons and people's buildings. A plan, as such, if it had gone through would have affected a large majority of people," said Joshi. The draft DP 2034 has not been scrapped by the government, the civic body has been tasked with revising it.

A civic activist present at the meeting said, "If the entire city is not considered it would only lead to litigation in the future."

Former civic body chief D M Sukhtankar, who was also present for the session, said that a presentation needs to be made to the authorities. "The planners need to be sensitized to the issues raised in this meeting," he said.

Mumbai's size will double in 23 years: Expert: DNA

The world is getting urbanised and it will not stop. Mumbai is growing by an annual rate of 3.09 per cent and in another 23 years, its size will double. This is what senior urban planner at the World Bank, Pedro B Ortiz, said at a recent conference on Sustainable Urbanisation and World Cities.

Similarly, Pune is increasing at a rate of 11 per cent and in another seven years its size will double.

As India and particularly Mumbai Metropolitan Region is in a transitional stage, Ortiz said the future development plan needs to be sectorial or in the form of sectors. "There should be plan of plans," said Ortiz.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is in the process of coming up with a revised Development Plan, whereas the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is working on third regional plan for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

Talking about the issues with implementation of projects, which is part of urbanisation, and budgetary allocations getting lapsed due to non-utilisation of funds, UPS Madan, Metropolitan Commissioner of MMRDA, said, "At the end of the year, not all the funds or budget is used due to wrong planning and other reasons, be it political or administrative. There are also factors during the course of implementation that delays any projects."

Instead of completing the project in three years, it takes longer and thereby budget allocated for a project not getting utilised by the end of the financial year. Therefore, at times the budgetary allocation exercise also is not proper enough.

Maharashtra: Have an empty house? You may have to pay double tax: Hindustan Times

If you own a house and it is unoccupied, you may soon have to pay a new tax—the vacant apartment tax— which will be double the amount levied on the property at present.

The proposal in the state government’s draft Maharashtra State Housing Policy aims to tackle the rental housing problem in Maharashtra.

This move will open up approximately 4.79 lakh houses in Mumbai in the rental market.

The draft document states, “In order that the vacant flats and plots are put to use, there should be double taxation… This will deter the tendency to maintain the plot and the flat vacant for speculative gains.”

Real estate experts welcomed the move. “We talk of housing shortage, but the number of vacant houses are increasing by the day. The move is necessary,” said Pankaj Kapoor, CEO, Liases Foras, a real estate research firm. “With an increase in number of houses in the market, the high rentals will be moderated.”

Yeshwant Dalal, president, Estate Agents Association of India, said, “Most of the vacant houses are owned by investors who have purchased for speculative gains.”

According to Dalal, keeping such flats will no longer be lucrative, as the owners will have to shell out a lot of money.

Senior officials from the housing department said the additional tax will encourage rental housing scheme, which is practised widely across other countries. “Also, it will increase the revenue of the exchequer,” said an official, requesting anonymity.

With real estate prices reaching the sky, several homebuyers have postponed their purchase plans and switched to rental housing. However, because of limited supply, these people have to shell out high rentals.