Redevelopment of Mumbai is still the buzzword. After all, the need is tremendous. Old buildings need to be repaired, families need more space, and new concepts that suit modern apartments need to be introduced.

Unfortunately, while the government has been supporting the need for redevelopment, it has not been able to translate this much vaunted enthusiasm into the right policy framework. Most of the new amendments brought out by the government have ended up leaving everyone more confused than ever. This has been complicated further by some pronouncements of the court which need further clarification.

A peculiar problem is that policymakers in Delhi often forget that Mumbai is not a landlocked area, but is surrounded by water on three sides. CRZ regulations that would make sense for the rest of the country, need to be approached differently for a city like Mumbai, which is also the country's commercial capital. It desperately needs a facelift – existing crumbling buildings must be redeveloped.

To discuss these issues, DNA got together a panel of experts comprising (in alphabetical order) Pritam Chivukula, Director, Tridhaatu Realty & Infra Pvt. Ltd; Ameet Mehta, Advocate, Solicis Lex; Mukesh M. Patel, Director and Knowledge Worker, Neelkanth Group; Ramesh Prabhu, Chairman, Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association; and Rajesh Vardhan, Managing Director, Vardhman Group.

The discussion, moderated by R.N.Bhaskar, with editorial support from Shahkar Abidi, threw up key issues and expectations. Given below are edited excerpts:

DNA: Why is redevelopment such an important issue for Mumbaikars? Could we have some background to this?

Prabhu: More than 60% of land in Mumbai has been categorised as slum area. This needs to be redeveloped. Secondly, we have about 17,000-odd buildings in South Mumbai , which are known as repair-board-cessed-buildings. These have been built prior to 1960) and therefore are going in for redevelopment. Thirdly, nearly, 20,000-odd housing societies all over the city, built prior to 1980, and over 3,700-odd buildings are also looking for redevelopment.

Then, there are other tenanted buildings – maybe, 5,000 to 6,000 buildings which are prior to 1980 – tenanted buildings in suburb, – and we thus have over 3 lakh properties all over Mumbai, open for redevelopment. With people coming to the city, and demand increasing, there is no option other than the redevelopment for the city.

The government is also supporting redevelopment by making the required amendments to the DC [development control] rules. The government increased FSI [floor space index] for slum rehabilitation from 2.5 to 3. Similarly, for cluster development the FSI applicable at present is 4. Talking about MHADA, FSI has been increased to 3 from 2 earlier. Coming to the other developments, like suburbs, private societies, it was 1 FSI, which was later enhanced to 1.33. Additionally, 0.67 TDR [transferable developmental rights] is also given, which means effectively 1 FSI and 1 TDR. Then, we have fungible FSI, which is again 35%,.

So, to sum up, the government is providing incentives for redevelopment.

Now, there is an incentive FSI as well. If you merge one plot with other available plots, the incentive FSI goes on increasing further depending upon the number of plots merged. There is no limit to FSI.

DNA: Oh! There is no limit.

Prabhu: Absolutely, there is no limit.