Mumbai developers meet civic chief to discuss real estate bottlenecks and propose premium payment reforms | Mumbai News

Mumbai: For probably the first time, top developers and architects from various organisations like CREDAI-MCHI, NAREDCO, BDA, and PEATA met municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani on Friday to discuss bottlenecks affecting the real estate sector. The civic chief announced the formation of a steering committee comprising representatives from these bodies along with BMC officers from various departments. This committee would meet fortnightly to discuss issues plaguing the sector.According to a press release, the meeting will be chaired by the deputy chief engineer in the commissioner’s office, Chandrashekhar Undage. “The commissioner assured us that he would also attend these meetings every month. This structure will ensure that key decisions and recommendations are tracked, implemented, and reviewed regularly,” said the press note. Among the key recommendations made during the interaction was a call to rationalise the premium payment schedule through a 10:10:80 structure—where 10% of the premium would be paid at the time of approval, another 10% at the stage of Commencement Certificate (CC), and the balance 80% at the Occupation Certificate (OC) stage. Currently, developers are required to pay multiple premiums—such as fungible FSI, open space deficiency, fire service charges, scrutiny fees, and development cess—either upfront or under deferment schemes with 12% interest. “Since these payments are often levied at early stages of development, they place a heavy financial burden before any revenue is generated. The proposed structure aims to align payments with project cash flows, making them more practical and sustainable without affecting civic revenues,” said developers. Sukhraj Nahar, President, CREDAI-MCHI, said that this joint representation was to carry on “constructive engagement” with the municipal administration. “We aim to work collaboratively with the BMC to create structured mechanisms that ensure regular dialogue, timely resolution of issues, and greater transparency in processes. The proposed 10:10:80 premium payment model is a fair and practical approach that aligns payment timelines with actual project progress and cash inflows whilst being revenue neutral from the administration standpoint,” said Nahar. Rushi Mehta, Secretary, CREDAI-MCHI, added that such joint initiatives mark an important shift towards collective problem-solving. He said, “The real estate industry is one of Mumbai’s key growth drivers, and regular engagement with the civic authorities is vital to unlock its full potential.”Municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani told TOI: “Yes, we have agreed to form such a committee to introduce EODB 2 (Ease of Doing Business 2). As discussed with CM, we are working on introducing AI into plan approvals to eliminate subjectivity to the maximum extent.”