Land-Based Instruments for Urban Infrastructure Development: The Experience of TDR in Mumbai

Abstract

Mumbai, one of the few largest cities in India, faces the challenges of continuing as economic powerhouse as well as maintaining the quality of life of its citizens. Civic infrastructure and its provision are important to support economic development as well as to enhance quality of life. However, with much of the land already developed in the city and with an intense competition between various land uses, the costs associated with infrastructure development (both land acquisition and construction) are large. Although the MCGM prepared a development Master plan for the period of 1981-2005 introduced the concept of land reservations for various infrastructure services, the development of infrastructure did not progress much for the paucity of funds; moreover, the conventional method of land acquisition has met severe difficulties. An alternate way is to utilise land based instruments that offer incentives for land owners and/or developers to surrender/develop land for providing urban infrastructure. Transferable Development Rights (TDR) is one such instrument that can be used to achieve urban infrastructure development while utilizing the development potential as well as value of urban land. This paper shows how the MCGM has proposed to achieve the goal of developing civic amenities in Mumbai without burdening its exchequer. It also outlines some of the issues and the reforms required in the current TDR programme to make it more effective.