The Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) land has been under radar for quiet a long time. As MbPT is city’s largest landowners, has a conrol over 752 hectares of land along the eastern seafront in the city. The MbPT has told BMC that it does want to give to its land for affordable or low-cost housing.
MbPT is a central government facility under the Union Ministry of Shipping. The MbPT has informed BMC that it wants to develop land for public use, by building port facilities and marinas for tourism. The BMC has marked some land of MbPT for creation of low-cost housing and open spaces. However, the MbPT has said that it plan to rehabilitate slum-dwellers and chawls on its lands be considered an affordable housing component.
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The BMC is the planning authority for the city and in its draft Development Plan (DP) 2014-34, it has provided for affordable housing, solid waste management and open space reservations in several parts of the MbPT land. The proposed DP is expected to be a blueprint for development across the city for the next 20 years and it will assign land for various uses according to general or specific requirements.
Under the General Clauses Act, MbPT has informed BMC that, the port authority reserves all rights to prepare it own land plan. The MbPT has its own idea of developing the land and want to develop it for public use and tourist attractions. The MbPT plan includes a section for watersports, a walkway, gardens, convention centres and parking facilities.
The land it owns close to Cotton Green railway station may be used to build commercial high-rises as the draft DP provides for higher FSI close to railway stations.
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The MbPT is not a planning authority like the MMRDA, and needs to submit its plan to the BMC for approval.
The MbPT chairman Sanjay Bhatia has expressed to first work on the land which MbPT has in its possession and after that they will work on the properties which have been encroached.
By doing so, MbPT has become the first government agency to deny the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s ambitious plan to tap no-development zones (NDZs) and salt pan lands to create affordable housing and new public open spaces.
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A land development committee for the MbPT’s estates, appointed by Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, had earlier recommended that port activities be restricted to 40 per cent of the port trust land. The remaining 60 per cent, at least 437 hectares, is proposed to be used to build commercial spaces, offices, gardens, parks, and infrastructure. The recommendations are yet to be accepted by the Union Shipping Ministry.
The MbPT has submitted an objection letter to review BMC DP review committee, that letter states that MbPT strongly urges to remove the reservation on the land, the reservations will have serious impact on the MbPT’s future development.
