The city of dreams, dreams - big and small. A city grappling with everyday contradictions, a city which never sleeps, never disappoints. Its sheer grit continues to amaze writers, philosophers and tourists worldwide.
Has this city ever made you wonder? Have you ever pondered, given a chance what would you do for this city? Here is a chance for the youth of India to share their vision and plan for the city which enchants us every moment .
This year Hiranandani Group has lent its support to this event and so has Hindustan Times as a part of their Spirit of Mumbai campaign.
Your entries at mmp.prerana2007@gmail.com
They reach us by 19th October
You can walk away with Rs50,000 and an opportunity to present at HT conclave
1 comment:
The statistics for Bombay are appauling at the least. Here are few of them:
-55% of the city’s population live in slums.
-The cost of real estate is ridiculous given the fact that 300 MM people in India live below the poverty line and the previous point. To live in any decent neighborhood, one has to pay atleast Rs.10,000 to 15,000 per sqft on super-built up area, which is the equivalent of paying Rs.15,000 to Rs.22,500 on carpet area. That's simply unacceptable in a country like India.
-The quality and capacity of the infrastructure is far from optimal.
-Though certain forms of public transportation work reasonably efficiently, they are far from optimal - traveling on Bombay’s suburban train system is a super-human experience - sweat, heat, no place to stand or sit, people hanging out of trains and sitting on top of them.
-80% of Bombay’s sewage flows into the ocean untreated - that’s roughly 1800 million litres of raw and untreated sewage. It brings to mind whether buy an expensive ocean facing apartment in Bombay is actually worth it? Also, it brings to mind whether one should eat fish caught of the coast of Bombay?
-Large parts of Bombay have no sidewalks so people end up walking on the roads.
-Traffic discipline is non-existent. Obtaining a driver’s license is a matter of paying a bribe and hence there is no controlled process of learning for new drivers.
-Flooding in Bombay is almost a yearly event.
Bombay is unliveable. Unless one is wealthy enough to pay atleast Rs.10,000 to 15,000 per square foot for an apartment, Bombay is a very tough place to live. The rich in Bombay have seceeded from India - they do not use the public transportation (buses, suburban trains), educate their children in expensive private schools or abroad (do not use public schools), and are not dependent on the government and municipal authorities for most things with a few exceptions such the use of the police and roads. The rich, living in their bubbles, do not have to deal with getting clean water on a daily basis, commuting to work like a can of sardines on the suburban trains, having to deal with the floods since they live in expensive homes that are insulated from the flooding.
The middle class and the poor who comprise of the majority of Bombay’s population are the ones that bear the brunt for the lack of proper infrastructure, the under capacity of the suburban trains, the ridiculous prices of real estate, the lack of a proper mechanism to deal with flooding, the lack of proper sanitation such sewage and gargbage disposal systems, the lack of proper traffic management systems, etc.
The wealthly are thriving, but one only has to view the way the middle class and the poor live to realise that Bombay is crumbling - the right way to describe Bombay is “decay”. Bombay is on a decline - it is decaying. It is probably amongst the worst places to live in India if one is in the middle class or is poor.
How do we fix Bombay? For starters, FIX THE MASTERPLAN.
SOLUTION - Go vertical.
-Manageable blocks of three to five acres in Bombay have to grouped together and rebuilt.
-In order to incentivise the redevelopment, the FSIs must increase. It is preposterous that Bombay has an FSI of 1.0 or 1.33 given that the population of the city is closing on 20 MM and will be the second most populous city in the world by 2020.
-In order to avoid complications of utilizing the FSI or other legal land based complications, for any particular 3 or 5 acre block, the entire block must be redeveloped at once in order to utilize its FSI. People living in that 3 to 5 acre block then own certain amount of square footage rights in that block.
-To manage the redevelopment properly, these blocks must have no height limits (must go vertical) and must have large set-backs. These set-backs will enabe the City of Bombay to lay urgently needed new and large sewage lines, water lines, utility lines, new public transportation lines such as metros, sidewalks, etc.
-The 3 to 5 acre blocks, with the additional FSI must, must have part of the their total development potential allocated to public amenities such as either low-income housing, libraries, multi-level parking facilities, schools, markets, sewage treatment plants, or sidewalks, etc.
-In order to deal with flooding, all new developments in low-lying areas must be built atleast 1 to 2 meters above sea level. Over time, all roads, public utilties will also be built at 1 or 2 meters above sea level which deal Bombay’s flooding problems.
-The proposed solution substantially increases density in Bombay but does so vertically. It increases open spaces by increased set-backs enabling Bombay to deal with its sewage, public transporation and infrastructure problems. Bombay will essentially become a lot like Manhattan where most people, irrespective of income level, use its higly dense public transportation to commute while having almost every possible public amenity in a 3-10 minute horizontal or vertical distance.
Please note that Bangalore and Chennai have new masterplans. The free FSI (without TDR, etc) are in the range of 2.5 to 3.75 depending upon the size of the road that the property abuts. Given its existing population and taking into consideration its future population, FSIs in Bombay must be in the 4.0 to 6.0 range depending on whether the 3 to 5 acre blocks abut large roads, or are a part of a financial district or residential district, etc.
Maybe the proposed solution above is not the most optimal, but one must keep in mind that irrespective of whether one agrees with the proposed solution above, Bombay needs a solution to fix its problems with infrastructure, sewage, cost of real estate, low-income housing, flooding and urban sprawl. If not, Bombay risks DECAYING into a very expesnive, low-density, sprawling city like Mexico city or Los Angeles. As it is, it takes 2 hours to get from Mulund to Nariman point or from Bandra to Navi Mumbai, just image what will happen to Bombay in 2020. People will have to commute large distances in narrow roads in over-capacity disfunctional public transporation while increasing pollution, traffic, etc. Quality of life will be miserable - far worse than what it is now.
Oft heard arguements against Bombay going vertical are than 1) the infrastructure can barely support the existing population hence how would it support additional density whether it be vertical or horizontal density and 2) the soil in Bombay is too soft for high rise development. Both these arguements can be addressed in a meaningful way.
About the infrastructure, it's a chicken-and-egg story. Infra first or increase in density first? The solution has to be somewhere in between - that it, both the infra and added vertical density must happen simultaneously in a manageable way. If it is required to have large-set backs for new developments (such as the 3 to 5 acre block developments), then the increase in density can happen along with the laying/creation of new infrastructure.
About the soil being too soft - that is fear should be discarded. The Chinese are building 80+ story buildings on soft soil on their waterfronts. All of Honk Kong is built essentially on a harbour. The answer to this problem is piling! The new Chinese developments are so advanced that their piling not only addresses the softness of the soil but also seismic events.
There definitely are solutions to our problems in Bombay, but the proposed solutions must not be a walk-to-the-bank for the Municipal authorities only or the real estate developers only or the people that need low-income housing only. The solution must work for all.
The Municipal authorities seem to think that every additional foot of development must result in a Rs.3000 per sqft fee based income for them - they seem less concerned about development than charging unreasonable fees so that they can buy expensive real estate in Bombay.
Also, maintaining the status quo of the masterplan only helps real estate developers who are happy to sell real estate to the few that can buy it at those ridiculous prices - I honestly don't blame developers for selling super built-up area. The do it not simply because they are greedy and corrupt - a large part of the reason they do so is that they have to make a profit developing a building to which the costs are just too high. After they've paid for the land, cost of construction, TDR, Municipal permissions, they almost have no option but to sell super built-up area. If they don't do so, they stand to make a loss. They are very happy to sell carpet area to everybody, but if they do, the cost of that carpet area will increase by 50%, which essentially is the super built up factor. If densities increase, the cost of real estate in Bombay will drop, the cost of land will drop and real estate developers will most likely sell carpet area.
The solution for Bombay's woes MUST address everything and everyone - a reasonable fee must be paid to the municipal authorities (not a so large that it disincentivises development or only perpetuates the high cost of real estate) so that they can upgrade and built new infrastructure, the densities must increase so that real estate developers can execute projects that are financially viable and not turkeys that will require massive subsidies, the set-backs must increase so that the municipal authorities can upgrade and build new infrastructure.
Maybe you disagree or have a better solution, but what is important is that we begin the discussion now so that come to an acceptable solution - a tentative masterplan. Otherwise it will be the same old story: apartments in south Bombay selling for over Rs.40,000 per sq ft, the municipal authorities going to the bank on charging unreasonable fees which are then used for political campaings and not development, raw and untreated sewage flowing directly into the ocean (reconsider jumping into Juhu beach or Chowpatty after you've read this post and please do not eat fish caught off the coast of Bombay), flooding like its an annual festival and traveling like a pack of sardines on the trains that most bureaucrats boast about saying that the trains are so efficient and well maintained - I wish they traveled on those trains everyday. Efficiency matters less when it comes to the suburban trains - capacity and coverage across the city are most important at this point in time.
Fix Bombay - let’s start the discussion now!!
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