State nod for revamp of nine buildings on civic plots

In a relief for more than 950 tenants of nine buildings on civic-owned plots, the state government last week gave a go-ahead for their redevelopment. The redevelopment

In a relief for more than 950 tenants of nine buildings on civic-owned plots, the state government last week gave a go-ahead for their redevelopment. The redevelopment of these buildings was stuck for the past year owing to the lack of clarity in provisions in the Development Control and Promotion Regulation (DCPR) 2034.

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All these buildings are situated in the island city.

The delay had not only affected tenants but also developers, who had paid the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) crores of rupees in capital value for the redevelopment, and paid residents two or three years’ worth of rent for accommodation during the redevelopment phase.

“The BMC misunderstood that the clause for redevelopment of municipal-owned tenanted properties was not there in the DCPR 2034. The state clarified the clause exists as it did in DCR 1991. However, this was not republished in DCPR 2034 as no alterations were made. Only changes were printed,” said Nitin Kareer, principal secretary, urban development department (UDD).

Most municipal body-owned plots are reserved for public amenities such as a school, hospital, parking lot, affordable housing and market, among others, as is the case with these nine plots. While these buildings had started the process for redevelopment as per the DCR 1991, they had to stop when the DCPR 2034 became applicable in November 2018 as the BMC could not find the provisions that allowed for their redevelopment.

In a letter to BMC on September 13 (a copy of which is with HT), UDD clarified that DCPR 2034 allows redevelopment of those buildings standing on municipal body-owned land which had taken permission for redevelopment as per rules of DCR 1991. The state clarified that the buildings will receive the FSI mentioned in the letter of intimation given as per DCR 1991 and need not start the procedure again as per rules of DCPR 2034.

HT had reported in May 2019, that the state had in the DCPR 2034 ‘deleted’ provisions that allowed tenanted residents of civic-owned plots to appoint developers and redevelop their building on the same plot, after handing over a portion to BMC .