Since 1980, there have been repeated government directives and committee recommendations to open up the city’s port land for public parks, gardens and promenades. However, the Mumbai Port Trust’s (MbPT) draft planning proposal on the revamp of the eastern waterfront makes only 7.6% of the 966.30 hectares (ha), to be developed, accessible to the common Mumbaiite in the space-starved city. An analysis of the proposal shows that Mumbaiites would not get the open spaces they have been promised after opening up the port land for development.
Here’s how. Of the 966.3ha, 261.47ha have been reserved as open spaces in the plan. However, 94.5ha of this is proposed as private-layout open spaces for residential, commercial and port activities, which will not be accessible to all . Another 93ha is proposed to be made available through reclamation near Haji Bunder, a move severely opposed by town planners and environmentalists. This leaves only 74ha or 7.6% of the total area as accessible open spaces. Significantly, the state as well as central governments said a large chunk of the port land would be turned into parks, gardens, amphitheatres and promenades that can be accessed by citizens.
In May 2018, the state government made MbPT the special planning authority (SPA) for the area between Wadala and Sassoon Docks to be revamped. The trust has released a plan to transform the area into a tourism hub. Earlier, the MbPT land was isolated from city planning as it was majorly used for port activities. Over the years, as port activities in Mumbai reduced with the opening of JNPT port in Raigad, there have been directives and recommendations to unlock idle port land to the public for decades. For instance, a 1980 PM directive stated that, “MbPT land be opened up as green space for the city as a pre-condition for setting up the JNPT port at Nhava Sheva.” The directive was reinforced by the government in 1988 and the Rani Jadhav committee set up by the Centre also recommended 30% of the land to be used for open spaces.
The draft has reserved 25% of the land for commercial activities, 10% for residential and close to 35% for port operation and allied activities. It has also proposed an FSI — total buildable area to the size of the plot — varying between 1 and 4 for the development of residential and commercial complexes, opening prime property for developers.
“While MbPT claims to reserve 30% of the area for open space, it comes with several riders. We fail to understand what is the need for reclamation when there is so much of vacant land lying unused?” said Pankaj Joshi, executive director, urban design research institute (UDRI), a body of town planners that submitted its suggestions to MbPT on Friday. The UDRI letter states, “Reclamation can be done in order to de-densify urban areas. However, to reclaim land to generate open space and act as a carbon sink is counter-intuitive. In its draft plan, MbPT has claimed to have increase the per capita open space to 6 sqm per person. Dilip Shekdar, chief planner of MbPT, said, “Even if we do not take reclamation areas into account, we will meet the standards set by the municipal corporation of 4sq. m per person.” Zoru Bhatena, an activist said, “Instead of providing open spaces on land, the trust is looking at making open spaces through reclamation — a bigger ecological disaster.”
First Published: Jan 26, 2019 01:03 IST
