A rapidly growing city and the development mostly haphazard. To top it all, what happens if the government raises the floor space index? Chaos, say town planners and builders.
Buzz in the realty business is that the State Government is planning to raise the FSI for S G highway, which has seen large scale development, from 2.25 to 3.15. The move, seen as a bid to please the builder lobby, will raise the earnings from a limited plot area. However, many realtors don’t think one should take the plunge so soon.
FSI is the ratio of total floor area of buildings on a certain location to the size of land at that location.
Urban planner and architect Anand Tatu feels that there are two main aspects that need to be considered while raising the FSI: earthquake-prone zones and choked up infrastructure.
“I believe it’s a very serious issue and thorough research is needed before taking any steps. For instance, you cannot mark a certain area and say it is feasible to raise the FSI here because either it is not in the earthquake-prone zone or it will reap rich dividends. One needs to realise not only the city, but the entire State falls in the seismic zone. Secondly, has anyone thought how much burden it will put on the existing infrastructure like water, drainage, roads, etc?” he asks.
Yatin Pandya of Vastu Shilp Foundation believes it is simply a political stunt aimed at gaining more support of realtors. Like Tatu, Pandya too is of the opinion that proper planning is needed before any decision is taken.
“Thankfully, the decision is yet to come. FSI is not an arbitrary number and a thorough review needs to be done on it. I am personally not against raising the FSI for S G Highway, but only concerned about the huge density it will create. With elections on way, I feel this is just a political design to earn some goodwill from builders,” says Pandya.
The need of the hour, according to Pandya, is more residential space. The S G Highway already has a foray of commercial schemes lined up and the ISKCON Circle remaining congested for most part of the day.
“Even the Drive-In Road remains busy as it connects to the highway. With raised FSI, commercial schemes are bound to come up. Instead, the government needs to think about the rising need for residential space,” says Pandya.
Saswat Bandyopadhyay, an urban planning professional, says unless ancillary facilities for any project are not taken care of, raising FSI would only mean chaotic development. “There are many aspects in building by-laws like fire safety and adequate parking space, which builders skip. Rules state that for every 20 sq ft built-up area, one has to have one full-grown tree, but no one follows it. Unless these aspects are not considered, raising FSI would not mean much,” Saswat.
Pandya says, “I am sure this proposal will be implemented on the Sardar Patel Ring Road too.”
Meanwhile, with all the buzz about the proposed raise in FSI, Municipal Commissioner I P Gautam, who will be implementing it in the city, has not received any intimation from the State Government till now. “I have not received any intimation from the government. I can’t comment unless I get one,” says Gautam.