The Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) — Mumbai’s upcoming business district — is set to get office space three times the size of Nariman Point.
In two days, the state’s urban development department will double BKC’s floor space index (FSI), adding 11 million sq ft space to the area. The FSI is the amount of construction allowed on a plot; the higher the FSI, the higher a building can rise.
“We will issue the notification in two days,” said T. Benjamin, principal secretary, urban development department.The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), the planning authority for BKC, had proposed to increase the commercial district’s FSI from two to four in 2007.
The additional area is expected to bring in an estimated Rs 30,000 crore, which the MMRDA wants to use for the Metro rail projects and the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP), Benjamin told Hindustan Times.
Property at BKC is priced high, at Rs 2.5 lakh per sq metre. However, demand for real estate in the area had gone down recently — last month, only three of the five plots were purchased at an auction; two remained unsold.
Property experts said the doubling of FSI would make available the much-needed office space which is now restricted to saturated areas like Nariman Point and Worli.
“It’s a great move as eventually land supply in BKC would have dried up. We can now compete with international business centres like Canary Wharf in London, which is spread over a large area and has an FSI of 8,” said Anuj Puri, chairman and country head of global real estate consultants JLL Meghraj.
{{/usCountry}}“It’s a great move as eventually land supply in BKC would have dried up. We can now compete with international business centres like Canary Wharf in London, which is spread over a large area and has an FSI of 8,” said Anuj Puri, chairman and country head of global real estate consultants JLL Meghraj.
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