06 March,2009 10:01 AM IST | | Shailesh Puranik
The government needs to adopt the role of a facilitator rather than that of a planner or an executor. Today Mumbai needs at least 550 flyovers to decongest the roads. We need better roads, public transport, water and power supply. The suburbs also need to be well-developed if pressures from the main centres need to be taken away. In fact, the government should look at creating new residential and commercial zones in the suburbs.
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Once the suburbs get good infrastructure, everyone will want to buy a house there. This will definitely increase the real estate development and prices will be pretty competitive. Places like Virar, Karjat, Kasara, Vasai, etc are ideal for affordable housing and should be developed at the earliest.
Moreover, we need more transparency in the system. We need single window clearance, more FSI and quick proceedings. The idea of having the building plans checked by the government is redundant. An architect should be approving the plans and passing them. If the government finds that the builder/architect has faulted somewhere, the parties should be severely penalised. Mumbai needs to be expanded beyond its present boundaries ASAP.
