The Maharashtra state government announced the arrival of the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulation (DCPR or DCR) on 20th of December, and important stakeholders in the state have welcomed it with open arms. After a delay of nearly three years, the state is all set to implement the Unified DCPR, a move that was met with keen anticipation.

The new policy will be applicable to all regions of Maharashtra, except for Mumbai, some of its surrounding areas and all hill station councils. That being said, this reform is likely to bring forth exceptional changes in the way infrastructural growth is being addressed in key Maharashtrian cities such as Navi Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan - Dombivli, Pune and Kolhapur - also the hotbeds for rising real estate demands.

What the Unified DCPR sets forth brings a sense of uniformity and regularization to the state's infrastructural and developmental ventures, minimizing ambiguous red-tapism and pencil-pushing. The new DCPR focuses on transforming the process by making it more transparent and easy to manoeuvre - ensuring undeniable ease of business for investors and residents alike. The regulation will directly address the fate of public spaces that are traditionally prone to encroachment while widening the scope for planned urban landscapes. But above all, the regulation is poised to bring forward revolutionary changes in the real estate sector by the ways listed below.

Some of the Unified DCPR's salient features include:

• The introduction of the Ancillary FSI (floor space index) slated to propose relaxation in the existing FSI norms.
• Incentivising FSIs for public parking lots in the vicinity of metro stations.
• Green flagging redevelopment of buildings that date back to over 30 years, in Navi Mumbai - in a bid to avoid mishaps and collapses.
• Detailing specific norms for home constructions.

The standardizing of norms will leave little space for misinterpretation by local bodies and developers alike - setting the same benchmark for all infrastructural development and constructions across the state.

ANCILLARY FSI

Under the new norms, the ancillary FSI is an enhanced edition of the BMC's old Fungible FSI model that will now become the standard across all cities in the state. This makes a provision for projects to tack on a significant amount of FSI, at the cost of a premium - allowing a high number of high rises to come about in cities like Pune, Nashik, Kolhapur etc without a flurry of permissions to get through.

This also means a fresh lease of life for old projects lined up for redevelopment, as those can now be scaled to their full potential, despite a limited base FSI that was earlier allotted to them. By amending the FSI norms, this regulation has given redevelopment and the construction of new projects a fresh lease of life.

NORMS FOR RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTIONS

In a bid to keep away discrepancies and ambiguities, the decision to regulate all housing construction norms will pave the way for standardized home measurements across the state. These would include the scalings for the ledged near air conditioning units, cupboard space, non-negotiable lighting, ventilation and safety features and FSI free parking space amongst other things. Adhering to these norms will also ensure a concession to developers, which in turn will be passed on to homebuyers - benefitting all in the equation. This follows the government's push for better quality housing for all, without costing a nosebleed price.

MICROMANAGING URBAN DEVELOPMENTAL REGULATIONS

In this case, the Unified DCPR pushes for a more microscopic approach to urban developmental regulation, in a way to standardize the quality of constructions and leave no room for error. In the case of Navi Mumbai, new norms have been put in place to facilitate the rehabilitation of the ageing buildings - okaying the redevelopment of all buildings over 30 years, regardless of their current condition.

These are the cornerstone features of the Unified DCPR that will pave the way for better synergy between the state, the developers and the residents, by forging a relation based on growth, good quality housing and development - not just in the state capital, but across all cities - big or small, in Maharashtra. This also allows the urban migratory pressure to subside on Mumbai alone, making way for new avenues and opportunities in cities like Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Nashik, and other Tier 2 and 3 cities.

The Pune Municipal Commissioner, Vikram Kumar prophesizes that the same can be considered by other states, following the success the Unified DCPR will spark in Maharashtra, adding that this won't just mean the business of the state's real estate machinery, but every service vertical that employs citizens.