BMC auctions south Mumbai market plot for 13% less than Rs 428cr base price
Mumbai: BMC has issued a letter of acceptance (LOA) to AAV Developers LLP, which bid 13% less than the base value of Rs 428 crore, for a 8,116 sq m plot housing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Market near Crawford Market in south Mumbai for a 30-year lease period.
Accepting the Rs 369-crore bid, BMC has asked AAV Developers to leave space for a staircase, lift and escalators for a foot over-bridge (FOB) that railways plan to build to connect the east-west of CSMT station and access to long-distance nodes from Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Mandai.
According to the LOA, AAV Developers and Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) will have to sign an agreement and make a pro-rata payment for the space allotted to them.
RLDA will have to pay for the FOB landing space though the chief secretary had earlier instructed BMC to not charge any land cost. The civic body maintained that handing over space for free is not in consonance with the BMC Act.
In Oct 2024, BMC decided to auction 3 of its plots in the island city, including the one at Crawford Market, for a 30-year lease period with a provision of renewal for another 30 years in a bid to generate revenue as its liabilities crossed Rs 2 lakh crore owing to its infrastructure projects.
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The decision to auction the Crawford Market plot, which houses a fish market and is also reserved for a municipal office and disaster management facilities, and to give LOA to a developer who bid below the base value has come under criticism. "This land has been reserved for a municipal office, municipal chowky, and for disaster management facilities," said former IPS officer-lawyer Y P Singh. "It is not possible to delete these reservations because they are public facilities created by due process of law.
Further, the deletion requires public hearing and the outcome whether the reservations can be deleted or modified or not deleted, is still uncertain... It is also a settled position in law that the questions of 'Inter-Generational Equity', also have to be considered."
Activist Santosh Daundkar said BMC should allot whatever land railways require and build a public parking lot in the remaining space and allow fisherfolk to continue their trade.
"It is widely believed that the plot is being allotted due to pressure from the top," he claimed.
But BMC chief Bhushan Gagrani cited the two previous attempts and the railways seeking the right of way for going ahead with the auction. This time, BMC received only two bids — Rs 369 crore from AAV Developers and Rs 330 crore from Saroj Landmark Realty.
"There are issues with the plot including reservation, which state has to delete, and the shifting of the fish market. It is not conducive for commercial exploitation. We had no option but to go ahead by accepting the highest bid," said a BMC official. But another official said: "BMC could have cancelled the process or sought fresh bids."
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