New parking policy: 4 developers agree to pay premium to BMC

In what would be a welcome addition to parched civic coffers, four out of 11 developers, whose proposals for parking lots had been given a commencement certificate (CC), have now agreed to pay premiums to the civic body, in accordance with the revised parking policy.

In what would be a welcome addition to parched civic coffers, four out of 11 developers, whose proposals for parking lots had been given a commencement certificate (CC), have now agreed to pay premiums to the civic body, in accordance with the revised parking policy.

This comes after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation served notices to all 11 developers last week, asking them why their CCs should not be revoked. All these proposals had been sanctioned under the old parking policy. However, after the BMC chief Subodh Kumar formed the revised policy — according to which builders have to pay a premium on the built up area based on ready reckoner rates — the developers were asked to modify their proposals to meet the new conditions.

When none of the developers responded, the civic body issued notices. Two developers have now submitted revised proposals, which were sanctioned by the joint committee on parking lots. Proposals of two other developers did not need any modifications and twere cleared.

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Civic officials said that they expect a windfall of Rs1,000 crore if all 11 agree to shell out a premium.

Additional municipal commissioner Aseem Gupta said: “We were concerned about the planning of these parking lots and the impact on traffic in and around the area. Hence, we insisted that they modify their proposals.”

However, he clarified that the premium charged would not regularise loopholes in proposals sanctioned under the old policy. “Builders will have to modify their proposals. We will not regularise any illegality in the structure, by charging this premium.”

A civic official who did not wish to be named said that other builders were not keen on modifying their proposals.

“Not too many builders are enthusiastic about constructing the parking lots as their profit margins have gone down significantly.”