Acknowledging that real estate is one of the top contributors to deteriorating air quality in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that construction activity in the real estate sector will be monitored and guidelines will be issued for developers in the backdrop of deteriorating air quality in the city. The civic body made the announcement while presenting its Rs 52,000-crore budget on February 4.
In order to tackle the poor air quality in Mumbai, the BMC announced seven steps to address the underlying issues. It has also decided to install air purifying towers across several locations in the city. To implement the measures, the BMC has allocated a budget of Rs 25 crore.
"The four major contributing factors to Mumbai’s deteriorating air quality are identified as road and construction dust, traffic congestion, industries and power sector, and waste burning. To address this emergency in the city, the BMC announces a seven-step strategy under the Clean Air Mumbai initiative with an objective to reduce emissions," it said in the budget statement.
Also read: BMC presents Rs 52,619 crore budget; to invest Rs 27,247 crore in civic facilities
As part of the seven-step strategy, the civic body will encourage sustainable construction and demolition practices under which construction guidelines will be issued for builders to control dust at construction sites. The second step will aim to address dust reduction measures from roads, promote clean transport, sustainable waste management, green urban projects and arrange awareness programmes.
"The challenge is to quantify the waste dissemination process for construction and demolition. There is a need to properly estimate waste generated per day, track construction projects, cover vehicles carrying the waste/debris and ensure in-situ monitoring of this waste/debris moving towards recycling, among other measures," it added.
However, unlike the civic bodies in North India which restrict construction during a limited time frame, the BMC has no such plan, officials said.
Property tax
Meanwhile, the civic body has indicated a possible hike of 16 percent in property tax for the 2023-24 financial year. The periodic revision of property tax has been on hold since the past three years due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic resulting in slowdown of economic activities.
Municipal Commissioner and Administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal said, "The revision in property tax is due from 2020-21. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic it was deferred during 2020-21 and 2021-22. In 2022-23, the state government requested the BMC to defer revision of property tax to help the citizens. Hence, the BMC accepted the proposal to defer revision of property tax by another year."
"However, we have projected collection of property tax considering a 16 percent hike for the next financial year. There may not be any hike but the final decision will be taken by the newly-elected corporators following the upcoming elections. For now, we have not proposed the hike as such," Chahal added.
Also read: Mumbai Civic Body collects Rs 665 crore as property tax in first two quarters of ongoing fiscal
In 2022-23, revenue from property tax was estimated to be ₹7,000 crore, which was revised to ₹4,800 crore, a decline of ₹2,200 crore. The actual income received up to December 31, 2022, is ₹3,174.46 crore. In 2023-24, the BMC is aiming for property tax collection of Rs 6,000 crore.
Premium collection from building approvals going down
In 2020-21, the civic body had given a 50 percent waiver in premiums paid by developers for construction approvals. As a result, it collected a record amount of Rs 15,493 crore from submission of premiums in 2021-22. It collected only Rs 2,107 crore in 2020-21. In the ongoing financial year of 2022-23, the collection till December 2022 is Rs 2,711 crore. The civic body had anticipated a collection of Rs 3,950 crore from the proceeds.
The decline in collection was because the premium waiver was not continued in 2022-23 and developers were expected to pay 100 percent of the amount based on the project size. In Mumbai, developers have to pay 30 percent of the project cost as premium to get approvals from the BMC.
Also read: Mumbai civic body extends instalment facility for premium payment by developers until 2025
Commenting on the drop in premium collection, Chahal said, "We have collected Rs 2,711 crore up to December 2022. Our target is Rs 3,950 crore and we still have three months of collection to be reflected. There was a feeling in the BMC that after almost Rs 16,000 crore collection in 2021-22, we might not get much revenue for the next two to three years. However, we are able to meet our targets and are very close to meeting it."
Developers welcome BMC budget:
Meanwhile, the real estate developers welcomed the BMC Budget for 2023-24.
Boman Irani, President of CREDAI-MCHI, an apex body of real estate developers said, "The BMC budget impulsion on pollution control, strengthening of health and education system, administration transparency and the city’s beautification was much needed. However, we feel that a an allocation of Rs 25 crore will be insufficient to mitigate air pollution and achieve sustainable waste management for a city that is aspiring to reach net-zero carbon neutrality by 2050."
"Setting guidelines for the construction sector to curb dust pollution in Mumbai is in sync with the CREDAI-MCHI blueprint with focus on maximising, modernising and revolutionising the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The proposal to plant one lakh trees is a welcome move and private players should be encouraged to participate through their CSR initiatives," he added.
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