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Pankaj
Kapoor of Liases Foras property consultants is the happiest
man after the Bombay High Court dismissed the petition
challenging the usage of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR)
in Mumbai.
It was through Kapoor’s efforts that
builder’s association, the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing
Industry (MCHI) argued and eventually won the
case.
Builders and flat buyers are celebrating the fact
that the potential for construction has risen, and realty
prices expected to come down.
It began like
this
On behest of the MCHI and its president,
Mofatraj Munot, Kapoor studied the effects of TDR on the
suburban infrastructure.
Titled ‘Study of congestion
and impact on infrastructure due to TDR development’, Kapoor
carried out the survey in May 2005 for over a period of three
months.
Using satellite images, data available from
the BMC and other government agencies, it was decided to
conduct a pilot study in Kandivli, Vile Parle, Andheri and
Jogeshwari. The survey was conducted to study the situation
after the High Court froze the use of TDR in corridors of the
city in July 2004.
(In western suburbs, the corridor
extended from SV Road to Railway Station and Western Highway
and for the eastern suburbs, corridor extended from LBS Marg
to the railway station. TDR is not to be used within the
island city.)
Speaking to MiD
DAY, Munot said, “Kapoor is an expert, and when
it came to getting to the crux of the matter we chose him.” As
a part of the study, sections falling under the corridors and
otherwise were analysed for their population density, land
use, existing roads, plot area, unconsumed FSI/TDR and
undeveloped infrastructure.
What’s the
matter?
The petitioner argued that real estate
development could cause increase in congestion and burden on
traffic. Kapoor proved this wasn’t true.
“As per the
census data we found that the population density in the
corridor was the lowest when compared to the eastern and
western region,” said Kapoor. Within the corridor, 468181
people reside per square km. While 60746 people reside in the
west, 69588 people reside in the east, clearly de-linking
congestion from real estate development.
“The study
proved that congestion is not caused by the residential
population, but by floating population,” said
Kapoor.
In terms of open areas, some percentage of area
was found to be better than others. The study revealed 55 per
cent of the planned roads are yet to be developed. While 71
per cent remained undeveloped in eastern region, 32 per cent
in western area was yet to be developed, thus signifying the
potential of development infrastructure.
Impact
analysis
Kapoor’s study concluded that if all
potential TDR FSI is consumed and roads get developed, the
load on road in the corridor area would actually get relaxed
by 85 per cent. However, there would only be a 16 per cent
rise in the population.
As per the absorption level,
the potential FSI within the corridor will take at least 17
years to get completely consumed. “This proves that the
western corridor is more congested as the density of
population is higher and percentage of roads are less,” added
Kapoor.
Solution
“The solution
does not lie in banning real estate development,” Kapoor
disclosed. According to him, the solution lies in improving
the roads. Authorising illegal shops would discourage people
from shopping on the road.
Bad conditions of roads
increases travel time. “Just take a look around, you will
find, so many vehicles, so many pedestrians,” said Kapoor.
Kapoor’s study cites the example of Dombivali station,
where the administration has constructed elevated walkways for
better dispersal of commuter traffic. |
