MCZMA approves proposal to pull real estate project out of CRZ zone

In a decision that raises several doubts over whether ecological concerns were set aside, the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) has approved a real estate developer’s proposal to pull a lucrative plot of land in Prabhadevi, Mumbai, out of the restrictive Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms. The builder sent his proposal after the MCZMA earlier this year redefined the coast along Mahim as a “bay”, something a Times of India news report calls an “intriguing redefinition” that has now brought windfall gains to developer firm Hubtown.  The report said the builder submitted his proposal along with a report from the Institute of Remote Sensing that showed his 5.3-acre plot just outside the 100-metre zone from the coastline. According to the definition of what is now permissible in a “bay” area, the builder was able to get his plot removed from the 500-metre restrictive zone. The plot in question is land that previously housed the Hindoostan Mill. A hotel project had been envisioned but was stalled after Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan cancelled the unusually high FSI of 7.6 sanctioned earlier for the project. Reports said the defunct mill owned by the Thackerseys was purchased by Hubtown and DLF jointly in 2007 for Rs 350 crore. The plan was to build a 60-storey five-star hotel on the plot, located on coastal regulation zone-1 land. The FSI had been reduced incidentally when the government was trying to take control of NTC land known as Indu Mills, also in Prabhadevi, for construction of the proposed Ambedkar Memorial. NTC valued the 13.5-acre Indu Mills at Rs 6,000 crore, an exorbitant estimation. It emerged then that NTC had arrived at its valuation based on the high FSI sanctioned by the Ashok Chavan government to the Hindoostan Mills plot. Owing to CRZ restrictions, the developer was then told he could use the available FSI of 1.33 only. Now, with the plot “virtually removed” from CRZ restrictions, the use of the land can also be changed from the present reservation of industrial use to residential use, the most likely plan now.