Rooftop gardens may soon be required for all new buildings in Mumbai that are larger than 2,000 square metres.

As part of its initiative to compensate for the city’s lack of open green spaces, the BMC has proposed making rooftop or terrace gardens mandatory for all new buildings with plot sizes greater than 2,000 square metres. It also wants builders to use vertical gardens on construction sites instead of tin sheets to obstruct their work. This is part of the BMC’s new rooftop/terrace and vertical garden policy, which will be implemented in the near future.

The draught policy was proposed by the BMC’s Gardens Department, and Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Chahal has now asked the BMC’s Development Plan (DP) department, which regulates buildings in the city, to review it and provide feedback. The BMC will soon hold consultations with builders associations such as the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MHCI) and the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) to determine how to implement the policy.

“The traditional method of tree plantation necessitates a large amount of space, which is not available in Mumbai.” As a result, alternative solutions must be devised in order to provide Mumbai with the necessary green cover. Some of the methods, such as vertical gardening and terrace/rooftop gardening, are used all over the world. In order to increase green cover, policy guidelines for terrace/rooftop gardening and vertical gardens for biodiversity conservation in Mumbai are needed, according to Jitendra Pardeshi, Superintendent of Gardens, in the draught policy.

As per the policy document, when developing a terrace/roof top garden, builders must guarantee structural safety and leave adequate working space for facility servicing. The consistency of the structure shall not be damaged and neither should the water validation suffer. The rooftop/terrace gardening should include an irrigation system.

The policy also proposes that every builder/developer create vertical gardens during the construction of the project, at least on the side facing the main road, in order to minimize air/noise pollution. “The proposal policy guidelines have been given in-principal approval, and they will be made official after consultation with stakeholders and DP department,” Pardeshi said.

The policy will make it mandatory for large projects to provide podium gardens where native tree varieties with shallow root systems or medium-sized canopy can be accommodated while also ensuring structural stability.