The Maharashtra government is planning to raise the floor space index (FSI) for Mumbai from the existing 1.33 to 2.20. Besides, it is also trying to put an end to the piecemeal manner in which the index is being raised for various projects.
Speaking with Business Standard, a senior official from the state urban development ministry said: “A team of state government officials and a team of experts from the World Bank are working on the proposal to have a common FSI for both the island city and its suburbs. Currently, the island city has an FSI of 1.33, while in the suburbs it is only one.
The FSI is the ratio of total floor area of a building to the size of the plot. It indicates the maximum construction allowed on a plot in a particular area. That is, if the FSI is one and the plot size is 1,000 sq ft, the maximum construction allowed on that plot will be 1,000 sq ft.
“The current FSI is hardly enough if we have to meet the growing demand for housing in the city. Nearly 80 sq km area out of total 437 sq km of Greater Mumbai falls in a no-development zone, which includes national park, coastal regulatory zone etc.,” the official pointed out.
The state government is also planning to grant an FSI of 4 at the metro stations and within a radius of 500 metre of them. It has granted a similar FSI for the Dharavi redevelopment project. The higher FSI is also available to builders who undertake schemes for slum redevelopment or rehabilitating the project-affected people.
However, World Bank has objected to the state government's this piecemeal approach about the higher FSI and called for uniform policy on it during recent parlays of state government officials and World Bank experts on Mumbai Makeover program, he added.