AAI Begins Enforcing New Construction Height Limitations in Juhu and Dahisar.

Because of the presence of radars for civil and commercial planes, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has begun enforcing new construction height limitations in Juhu and Dahisar. This has resulted in a reduction in allowable building height, which is impacting apartment redevelopment and new developments in certain locations.

Building heights are now significantly lowered for plots within a 1-kilometre radius of the High-Frequency transmitter radar at Juhu and within 3-4 kilometres of the High-Frequency reception radar at Dahisar. Property market sources estimated that between 300 and 400 projects in these two locations might be impacted.

To see the impact from a layperson’s perspective, compare the allowed building height given by AAI to two adjacent society redevelopment projects in D. N. Nagar, Juhu.

While Building No. 16 in D.N. Nagar was granted a height of 57.13 meters (above mean sea level or AMSL) in November 2019, the adjoining site, Building No. 15, was only granted a height of 42.16 meters last month. In effect, there are five less saleable floors. The Mumbai Mirror has obtained documents of the two NOCs granted by the AAI to both of these properties. Furthermore, if the project is much closer to the radar, the permitted height may be reduced even more.

“Some 50-60 redevelopment projects of buildings more than 35-40 years old are being held up in Juhu due to the arbitrary action of the DGCA authorities,” said V K Mutalik, a resident of a Mhada colony. “DGCA gave NOC some time ago with full 53-meter height to a building just opposite the transmitter and is rejecting it to Mhada buildings where we reside, on the other side of the road,” he said

The majority of projects in these areas include the reconstruction of MHADA colonies and slum rehabilitation, which need additional incentive Floor Space Index (FSI) to make these projects profitable. The FSI of land determines how much may be constructed on it.

A reduction in allowable building heights will render these projects entirely unviable, according to a local developer.

The complexities of projects in and around Dahisar are equally significant for the construction sector. Previously, these projects were not necessary to seek NOC from AAI because a height of 150 meters AMSL was accessible by default according to AAI’s Color Coded Zonal Maps.

However, because the sites of Nav-Aids at Navi Mumbai airport have not been finalized, the Colour Coded Zonal Map for Mumbai & Navi Mumbai airport has been halted “stated a real estate industry expert “All projects in Dahisar must now get legal NOCs before they can begin development,” he stated.

Concerned about a lack of interest from developers in redeveloping ancient and decaying buildings in these areas, numerous societies and their architects have addressed their local political representatives to advocate for a resolution. The matter has been raised with the civil aviation ministry, according to real estate developer organizations. “A committee of technical specialists from ICAO, DGCA, and AAI has been formed to look into these matters,” said Kunal Chheda, who represents trade groups such as CREDAI, MCHI, NAREDCO, and PEATA before the ministry of civil aviation. We will bring this up with the committee and hope for a quick resolution.”

Dhaval Ajmera, a builder, believes that future construction projects should be granted the same height as those that have already been approved. “Since the radars were updated and activated lately, the authorities have carefully followed the rules. “If a structure with a specific height has already been allowed, another proposal on the next land cannot be prohibited,” he explained.

In a notice published last year, the civil aviation ministry granted privileges. Height limits for developments were limited to a radius of 2 km from the airport, rather than the previous 20 km. The real estate business has objected to the 20-kilometre rule. It claimed that the regulation was a “mistake” since previous to the 2015 notification, the height limitation radius was limited to a 2km radius surrounding the airport.