CM hikes FSI incentive for govt, civic staff quarters

On Tuesday, the UDD headed by Fadnavis issued a notice stating that in case of redevelopment of existing staff quarters, the increased FSI will be 3 for plots that are less than an acre in size and 4 times the land area for of bigger plots. This is a huge increase from the existing cap of 2.5 FSI for police housing and 0.50 more than the standard FSI for all other public housing quarters.

As per the new rules, one third of the total construction can be used for sale in the open market and the remaining for meeting the shortfall in staff quarters.

The implementing agency that executes the redevelopment can be the state government itself, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), the Public Works Department (PWD) or the Maharashtra Police Housing Corporation or the BMC. These agencies can also form a Special Purpose Vehicle wherein they retain at least a 51 per cent equity share.

Also, private builders willing to construct staff quarters on part of their plot will, in return, get to construct an additional 40 per cent in south Mumbai and 80 per cent in the suburbs as their sale component. However, in all such cases, the necessity of quarters in that particular location has to be certified by a committee headed by the BMC commissioner. The members of the panel will also include the police commissioner, MHADA CEO, PWD chief engineer and a senior representative from the agency for which the quarters are being constructed.

Arup Patnaik, managing director (Police Housing), said the decision would not only help generate more housing quarters for policemen but also boost the redevelopment of the run-down staff quarters.

As per data, only 42 per cent of the total requirement of over 2 lakh police quarters are actually available on the ground.

“About 25 per cent of these were constructed 40 to 50 years ago and are very small in size, with just one room and kitchen. The constraints of money and the absence of affordable housing drive many constables to live in slums,” Patnaik added.

The new deal

For redevelopment of existing staff quarters, the increased FSI will be 3 for plots that are less than an acre in size and 4 for bigger plots. Curently, the FSI cap for police housing is 2.5.

As per the new rules, one third of the total construction can be used for sale in the open market and the
remaining for meeting the shortfall in staff quarters.

Private builders willing to construct staff quarters on part of their plot will, in return, get to construct an additional 40 per cent in south Mumbai and 80 per cent in the suburbs as their sale component.