Mumbai: ThePrint has learned that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) – which is implementing infrastructure projects worth crores of rupees in Mumbai – is looking for innovative ways to keep its coffers flush with its land bank drying up. Is.
The MMRDA has, in the past, used its land bank in prime areas of Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) and Wadala as a cushion to enable it to undertake mega transport infrastructure works. A land bank is a reserve of land that is held by an authority for future development and as a source of revenue.
With most of its land already auctioned now and projects worth over Rs 1.19 lakh crore in the pipeline, the MMRDA is exploring new avenues to raise funds. These include obtaining tolling rights at Mumbai’s entry points, implementing transit-oriented development (which allows for a higher permissible built-up area along mass transit corridors for a fee), and possibly securing its assets. Is.
MMRDA commissioner SVR Srinivas told ThePrint, “The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has the right to collect toll at five entry points of Mumbai till 2027. But now we are implementing several capital-intensive projects that will improve connectivity significantly. Within the city, so we have proposed that we (MMRDA) will get the tolling rights after 2027.
“We are also seeing mass transit-oriented development. Developers are going to benefit anyway because of the mass-transit corridor. We should also be able to bring back some of the benefits of the city’s growth, Srinivas said.
Apart from this, MMRDA is also planning to monetize its assets to raise funds and pay off the loans taken for these works. All the proposals were discussed in detail in the MMRDA’s authority meeting chaired by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde last month. ThePrint has accessed the minutes of the meeting.
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Land Bank of MMRDA
BKC, spread over 370 hectares, and a notified area of 126 hectares in Wadala, are the family silverware of MMRDA. The government agency relies on these for part of its infrastructure projects.
Over the years BKC has developed into a major business hub of Mumbai, where over two lakh people work in government offices as well as private and multinational companies. It also has several five-star hotels, the National Stock Exchange (NSE), a diamond exchange and a large convention centre. MMRDA has been the exclusive planning authority for BKC since 1977.
In last month’s meeting, the MMRDA decided to invite bids for auction of two more plots in BKC, which are expected to fetch Rs 2,928.25 crore for an 80-year lease.
Last year also MMRDA did on lease Its two plots in Bandra Kurla Complex earned the government authority a total of Rs 2,067 crore.
An MMRDA official, who did not wish to be named, said the MMRDA is taking up projects worth Rs 1.19 lakh crore for development – these include the Versova-Virar sea link, the Thane Coastal Road and the extension of the Eastern Freeway. Other.
“So far, while building infrastructure in the greater Mumbai Metropolitan Region (Mumbai’s urban agglomeration), the MMRDA has mostly relied on its land bank. As an exception, for some projects, the MMRDA has taken loans from external sources, such as central government institutions. But this land bank is getting exhausted soon,” said the official.
“We urgently need to think of other sources of revenue to fund the upcoming infrastructure projects,” he said.
Immediately, the MMRDA plans to auction two plots – one of size 7,071.90 sq m and the other 6,096.67 sq m – on 80-year lease for commercial development.
The authority is also planning to invite tenders for building and running a club house at BKC against a fixed annual fee to the authority on account of membership fee, helipad and banquet lawn.
tolling, transit oriented development
In the authority meeting chaired by CM Shinde last month, MMRDA got in-principle approval to take tolling rights at five entry points of Mumbai after 2027, when MSRDC’s right to collect toll expires.
MSRDC, another government agency in charge of building road infrastructure across the state, was given the right to collect tolls at five entry points in Mumbai to compensate the agency for building 55 flyovers in Mumbai between 1995 and 1998 Was.
“We are planning to reform the tolling system by installing open road tolls at various places. This will reduce traffic congestion,” said Srinivas.
In an open road tolling system, there are no conventional toll booths and the system detects vehicles in motion and deducts the toll. As per reports, MMRDA is planning to introduce Open Road Tolling (ORT) system on the first under-construction Sewri-Nhava Sheva Mumbai Trans Harbor link, which is expected to be completed by December this year.
As per the details of the meeting, the MMRDA commissioner will also identify other possible places in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region where toll tax needs to be levied and send a proposal to the state government.
The MMRDA is also hoping to raise Rs 1,300 crore per annum from the premium on additional floor space index (FSI) on development in a designated containment zone along the mass transit corridor. MMRDA officials say that a proposal was sent to the state government in 2020 regarding the implementation of the transit-oriented development model on a pilot basis on the Dahisar East-Andheri East Metro corridor, which was approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. inauguration of In January this year.
The proposal was in cold storage till now, but in last month’s meeting it was decided that MMRDA would take up the proposal with the state government.
(Editing by Zinnia Ray Chowdhury)
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