Mumbai: The redevelopment of cessed buildings has been stalled due to the September 2019 government resolution (GR). According to this GR, passed by the former BJP government, the developer is required to have a total turnover of Rs 10-50 crore in three years.
Moreover, the developer should have constructed 500 houses earlier, then only it will be eligible for undertaking the redevelopment. Since the eligibility criteria is too high, the redevelopment of cess buildings has been affected, according to an official from the Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board (MBRRB), an undertaking of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) which looks after the cessed buildings.
Interestingly, the new conditions for developer was introduced in a bid to expedite the redevelopment projects including the cessed buildings in the island city on urgent basis. The state government, after the tragic incident of Kesarbai building collapse in Dongari on July 16 which killed people, had introduced the new GR.
However, after the issuance of the new GR from September 2019 till January 2020, MBRRB only issued No Objection Certificate (NOC) to only one developer so far for cessed building redevelopment.
The official said, “Since the developer fits in the criteria he has obtained the NOC. Several developers do not have such large turnover, therefore, they are not applying or keen to undertake redevelopment.”
While prior to the issuance of GR from April till September 2019, the MBRRB had issued NOCs to about 38 developers. The official explained, “For instance in a year about 100 NOCs are issued.
And as we know, the real estate sector is facing poor market condition, the proposals of redevelopment has already reduced. And now with this new conditions introduced by state, the developers have completely stopped showing interest in the project.”
Speaking to the Free Press Journal, Vinod Ghosalkar, Chairman of MBRRB, confirmed that they have already asked the state govt to fix the GR for cessed buildings.
He said, “Such conditions are appropriate for big housing projects and not feasible for cessed buildings redevelopment. The cessed buildings are located on small land parcels comprising of 2,00 to 1,500 square metres and mostly redevelopment is undertaken by small developers or landlords themselves.”
In Mumbai there are about 14,000 odd cessed buildings in the city. Many of which are in urgent need of redevelopment.
