Date:18/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/18/stories/2008071860190400.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Plea to okay draft Master Plan

Staff Reporter

“Indiscriminate multi-storeyed buildings will make city unlivable”

CHENNAI: The State government must take measures to approve the long-pending draft Second Chennai Master Plan and the development control rules without any further delay, said representatives of Citizens Alliance for Sustainable Living (SUSTAIN), a voluntary organisation.

In a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Wednesday, SUSTAIN’s managing trustee M. G. Devasahayam said “any alteration to the draft Master Plan and the development control rules at this stage will not be in the interest of the city and its future.”

Indiscriminate promotion of skyscrapers and multi-storeyed buildings and providing higher Floor Space Index (FSI) would make the city unmanageable and ‘unliveable’ for over 70 per cent of the population comprising low-income and economically weak people. FSI is the ratio of total permissible built-up area and the plot area.

While planners and experts look at the FSI and height restrictions as a means by which construction activities can be regulated based on the infrastructure available, including waste management, parks and transportation, the developers and owners of plots in an urban area view it as a limiting factor.

Mr. Devasahayam observed that more buildings with higher FSI would be cause “dire consequences to the quality of life in the city.”

At present, Information Technology firms can build 1.5 times over what is permissible for other buildings.

The expert committee constituted by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, after studying the suggestions made during public consultations, has recommended that the higher FSI extended to IT buildings be done away with due to the poor infrastructure within the city.

It has suggested that construction of multi-storeyed buildings be allowed on 12-metre and 15-metre wide roads, but limited the FSI to 1.5 and 1.75. No change has been proposed to the maximum permissible height in Chennai, which continues to be 60 metres.

Though developers argue that increase in the FSI and building height would bring down the land cost and selling price of built space, the selling price of buildings with higher FSI and those with lesser height are the same, he said.

Planners recommend only sustainable FSI and building height as any increase in density will result in straining the urban infrastructure and facilities, which are already in bad shape, Mr.Devasahayam said in the memorandum.