South Mumbai Plot De-reserved for Construction

The state urban development department has removed the reservations for a garden/park and green belt on a prime 2.5-acre Nepean Sea Road plot in south Mumbai, paving the way for full-fledged construction. Nepean Sea is one of the most expensive residential zones in th

BY Realty Plus
Published - Monday, 12 Jul, 2021

South Mumbai Plot De-reserved for Construction

The state urban development department has removed the reservations for a garden/park and green belt on a prime 2.5-acre Nepean Sea Road plot in south Mumbai, paving the way for full-fledged construction. Nepean Sea is one of the most expensive residential zones in the country, where new apartments command rates as high as Rs 1.25 lakh per sq ft. The sea-facing plot, close to Priyadarshini Park, is encroached by around 650 shanties and is owned by a private developer, Esarac Construction. The deletion of reservations means the plot can also be redeveloped under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme. The builder can now avail huge development benefits to raise luxury towers in lieu of rehabilitating slum dwellers free of cost on a portion of the plot. This is the only such change of reservation carried out in the entire D ward—where this project is sited—in the city’s new development plan. This is the first case in Mumbai where open space reservation of land encroached by slums has been deleted. Earlier, the authorities allowed slum rehab construction on 65% of the plot while leaving the remaining portion for public open spaces. This will open a Pandora’s box,” said property market. Due to deletion of reservations for public open spaces, the development potential of the plot is now worth several thousand crores. The urban development department notification said it sanctioned the new plan on the Nepean Sea Road plot after following the process of inviting “objections and suggestions” and consulting the director of town planning. As per existing norms, the government was supposed to frame a policy by which all open spaces reserved in the DP Plan were to be used as playgrounds/open gardens. Slum dwellers were to be rehabilitated elsewhere in project-affected people (PAP) schemes across the city. This would have left the entire 10,000 sq mt plot as a garden for residents of ‘D’ ward.. The Nepean Sea Road plot was sold to Esarac Construction for Rs one crore in 2004 by the then owner, Mina Movaghar Fusade.