Urban News

The Busines Line 14.11.2009

CMDA to push housing projects under town planning scheme

Bijoy Ghosh

(From left) Mr Vikram Kapur, Member Secretary, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority; Mr M.R. Jaishankar, Chairman, Estate South 2009 and Managing Director, Brigade Group; Mr R. Sellamuthu, Additional Chief Secretary, Development Commissioner, Planning and Development Department, Government of Tamil Nadu; and Mr Kumar Gera, Chairman, CREDAI and Chairman and Managing Director, Gera Developments Pvt Ltd, at the inaugural session of Estate South 2009 organised by the CII in Chennai on Friday. —

Our Bureau

Chennai, Nov. 13

The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority plans to encourage large-scale housing projects through the town planning scheme, according to Mr Vikram Kapur, Member Secretary, CMDA.

Addressing the inaugural of Estate South 2009, a conference on the real estate scene in south India, Mr Kapur said the CMDA is looking at modelling projects along the lines of the town planning schemes in Ahmedabad and Pune. Large parcels of land with developed infrastructure would be made available to developers for joint development. This would help unlock the value of land.

The real estate developers need to look at their own processes to improve efficiency and address pricing and marketing strategies. Industries that have gone through a slow down first improve their own performance and come out stronger. Sops and other forms of Government support can, at best, be a short-term solution, he said.

On the demand of real estate developers to be allocated land at low cost for development, Mr Kapur said Government land was not available for housing in Tamil Nadu, particularly in Chennai. There is no need for land prices to be high as the CMDA has “zoned enormous land” for residential development. It “fails comprehension” why land cost should be high, he said.

The two-day conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, is on the theme ‘The Way Ahead’. The conference looks at various issues affecting the industry as it comes out of a year of slow market conditions.

Mr Kumar Gera, Chairman, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India, said the issue of high land cost and taxes are a key factor impacting the availability of affordable housing. The industry is also concerned about the proposed law to regulate developers, which would hold the developers accountable but would not address the other partners in the project, including the end-buyer, project transaction authorities or financial institutions, any one of whom could ‘frustrate the project.’

The industry is not against being regulated. It would support the law if it enabled transparency and accountability for all concerned.

The authorities should look at creating special residential zones along the lines of the special economic zones for industry. The residential zones should be supported through infrastructure and tax concessions. Nearly, a third of the price of built-up space was due to taxes, he said.

The Hindu 14.11.2009

Transparency in building plan application processing stressed

Staff Reporter

Photo: S. Siva Saravanan

Sharing his views: Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department, Surjit K.Chaudhary (centre) at a review meeting in the city on Friday. —

Coimbatore: Building plan permission applications submitted in standardised format should be decided by the respective local planning authorities (LPA) within 30 days and the return of applications seeking details should be done within three days, said Surjit K. Choudhry, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department, on Friday.

Mr. Choudhry said that officials had been instructed to bring in place the infrastructure required for online submission and status enquiry of the applications to ensure transparency in building plan application processing.

The official, along with the Commissioner, Town and Country Planning, Ashok Dongre, had a review meeting on pending applications in Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode districts with Collectors P. Umanath (Coimbatore), R. Sudalaikannan (Erode), C. Samayamoorthy (Tirupur), Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra and LPA officials, following complaints by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India and Builders Association of Tamil Nadu of inordinate delay in the disposal of building plan permission applications.

Reviewing pending applications, Mr. Choudhry said 825 applications in Coimbatore LPA areas, 76 in no LPA areas of Coimbatore, 44 in Tirupur, four in Kurichi, 50 in Erode LPA areas and 28 in non-LPA areas were pending with authorities.

In total, 1,027 applications were pending with the authorities. Of them, 551 pertained to special buildings with ground plus three floors, 51 were for multi-storeyed buildings and 120 for layout approval.

A total of 237 applications seeking reclassification of land use pattern from the master plan were from Coimbatore, he said.

A standardised format of building plan permission application with check report of required information had been evolved, Mr. Choudhry said and added that the officials had been instructed to clear pending applications before December 15.

He also said that instances of architects and licensed surveyors filing applications without complete details would be taken a serious note of. Those guilty may have face actions such as cancellation of licences if such mistakes recurred, he said.