Seven real estate developers in Mumbai have been issued stop work notices for non-adherence of the new guidelines issued by civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal recently to curb air pollution, Keval Valambhia, CEO, CREDAI-MCHI told the FPJ.
This move has resulted in some amount of distress and disquiet among developers and has temporarily impacted and slowed down construction activity in the city.
Currently construction is on at 6000 sites across city
Currently construction is on at a whopping 6000 sites, according to Chahal. Many of these sites are linked to the upgrade of the city's transportation network such as the Mumbai Metro as well as SRA and redevelopment projects.
The commissioner was forced to issue these guidelines after Mumbai’s pollution soared to rival New Delhi on some days.
The move came two days after Swiss group IQAir rated Mumbai with an air quality index (AQI) of 160, making it the second most polluted city in the world on Monday, second only to China’s Beijing. A score between 151-200 is classed as ‘unhealthy’, while a score below 100 is ‘healthy’.
The city’s air quality index climbed as high as 171 on Wednesday last, according to air quality tracker IQAir, about 19 times the WHO annual air quality guideline figure. The surging levels of particulate matter 2.5 — tiny airborne particles linked to lung cancer and heart disease — are the result of large-scale construction projects that have also worsened road traffic, a civic press release stated.
New norms to slow down all ongoing projects
Meanwhile, a MHADA official, on condition of anonymity told FPJ that the new norms will slow down all ongoing projects including SRA as material including 35 feet barricades, smoke guns, water sprinklers and other machinery would have to be purchased and their stock availability in the market too would be impacted given the heavy number of projects currently underway.
According to Valambhia, CREDAI has been continuously in touch with its members to ensure compliance of the new rules and has even issued an advisory to them on this count. “We are all for improving the air quality of Mumbai and our home buyers. But BMC’s punitive action will not work. Instead it would be in everybody’s interest if the local authorities helped us to implement and follow the rules by giving us sufficient time to work out the logistics and also intervene in stabilising the prices of materials and machinery that would be required to do the same.”
He explained that soon after the announcement of the new guidelines, the prices of smoke guns had shot up from Rs 1.2 lac to Rs 3.5 lac in the market!
“Black marketeers are having a field day. There is a need for price intervention and also for realistic timelines”, he said.
He added that CREDAI was in constant touch and engagement with the BMC to help evolve a system that would facilitate and enable developers to implement the new guidelines. “After all even we want to ensure that Mumbai’s air quality remains healthy and sustainable”, he said.
On Wednesday Municipal Commissioner Chahal had issued strict guidelines to control air pollution:
All the buildings under construction shall be compulsorily enclosed with green cloth/jute sheet/tarpaulin from all sides and the structures under demolition shall be covered with tarpaulin/green cloth/jute sheet from top to bottom
There shall be continuous sprinkling/spraying of water during the process of demolishing the structure, according to BMC notice
The BMC has said any uncovered building under construction will face a stop-work notice from the BMC
The installation of a sprinkler system on key plot/site areas is mandatory, with regular misting throughout the day during construction
Vehicles carrying construction materials must fully cover the debris in order to prevent construction material from becoming airborne.
Air pollution has resulted in some 29,000 deaths in Mumbai so far in 2023 and cost about $2.9 billion in productivity, according to calculations by IQAir in partnership with Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
