MHADA does not have the funds to restore Esplanade Mansion, its vice-president Milind Mhaiskar has stated in no uncertain terms in his reply to Urban Development department's principal secretary Nitin Kareer. Mhaiskar has asked the state government to sanction special funds amounting to R30 crore, if it wished, for the restoration of India's last surviving cast-iron structure.

Mhaiskar stated that the MHADA has earlier taken up repairs of the building twice - in 1975-76 and 1988-89. The letter by MHADA stated that the 150-year-old Esplanade Mansion is a privately owned building with 156 tenants of which 56 are residents. In 2011, a proposal to restore the structure was prepared and was approved by the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee to restore the structure using 'like to like material'. It meant restoring it with the material that it was originally built of.