| IN THE minds of Mumbai residents, whether they sleep on streets or silk sheets, property developers loom large. Flat-packing humans Three things explain Mumbai's predicament: regulations, financing and graft. Rules inhibit new construction near the coast. (At the moment Mumbai is part of Maharashtra, a giant, partly rural state. And a new national property regulator is in the works. Yet, says P. But the city has 31 buildings over 100 metres high, versus more than 200 in Shanghai and more than 500 in Hong Kong and New York. Perhaps $10 billion-20 billion has been spent on land and building in the past decade, not much given that the population has risen to 12m. Finance also plays a role. Still, it is not unusual to make an under-the-table cash payment of at least 20% along with the stated price. And non-bank finance is not always kosher. The industry says it has cleaned up its act and attracted institutional investors. The limited role of banks protects financial stability, but has other costs. If builders are nervous about demand or short of cash, they're able to halt construction, having already got customers' cash. Without banks breathing down their necks, developers and owners sit on empty flats, rather than cut prices; this is a housing market where more borrowing might be helpful. Still, there are rays of hope. Officials say they are trying to spur pockets of redevelopment. ) That is some way off. The first overhead metro line, in the north of the city, and a short stretch of monorail running north-to-south, should open in a couple of years. Ajay Piramal, who began the redevelopment of mill land 20 years ago and who is re-entering the industry, says graft has fallen since Mr Kumar's crackdown. But it is also low-rise. It has poor transport links, so individuals who work in the city live near it. Panama City has a taller skyline. The result is tiny living spaces of 4. Mid-town flats cost $1m-3m. The industry is "feudal", has "subverted" the law and may need to be nationalised. While the city needs more skyscrapers, an unregulated building spree would be counterproductive unless the state gets cleaner, and better at planning and providing infrastructure such as roads, sewage and water. Das, an urban planner, the system is just too rotten to allow a Hong Kong-style building frenzy. Already many feel the city is falling behind Delhi and Bangalore. Great cities are not built by prudes-New York had its share of crooks and fat cats once. There has been dense activity on old mill land and in some suburbs where rules are laxer. To the south lies the ossifying old city centre, with its ageing port, colonial showpieces and Soviet-style offices and bureaucrats' flats. There are pockets of tall buildings on old mill land and along the city's west coast. To the east the vista is of derelict factories, rotting low-rise rent-controlled buildings and the odd slum. The nearest green spaces are a racecourse and a club on whose ample lawn members feed stray dogs buttered toast. Mumbai has perhaps the most extreme statistics of any metropolis. At the current rate it will take over six decades to build everyone a home. Much of the building has targeted the well-off with often magnificent complexes. At the current pace of sales it would take three years to clear the stock of 28,000-odd unsold flats in the city which are complete or being built, according to Ashutosh Limaye, of Jones Lang LaSalle, a property-services firm. That in turn means it has the highest population density of any big city. Corruption adds a final twist. The prizes range from being allowed bigger balconies to the support of politicians with "vote banks" in slums being redeveloped. Another official says, "politicians and all kinds of manipulators are made sleeping partners" in projects. But it is clear that some builders still bribe officials and politicians. Mr Kumar tried to clean things up after finding that "builders and architects worked the system". All the Porsches and Lamborghinis, all of the bodyguards and security details; it's all coming back. "All the bad karma is coming back. Take the view from one of the towers clustered in midtown, owned by Abhisheck Lodha, a razor-sharp American-educated tycoon making billion-dollar bets on transforming the city. But much of Mumbai-supposedly a rival to Hong Kong, London and New York-looks flat and knackered. . |
Friday 8 June 2012
Property in Mumbai
