Search This Blog

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Building a house to get easier

The standard building plans prepared for residential plots up to 105 square metres will suit the rehabilitation colonies only in the planned colonies, where minimum plot size is 125 square metres. PANKAJ AGGARWAL, general secretary of Efforts Group, an umbrella organisation of RWAs

NEW DELHI: Constructing a house is likely to get easier with the urban development ministry on Friday releasing bylaws to provide instant building plan clearances and checking red tape.
The model building bylaws (MBBL), to kick in within a fortnight, will bring relief to people in unauthorised neighbourhoods that have been regularised and rehabilitation colonies built after Partition. The plot sizes here are usually small.
The bylaws simplify the sanction process for construction on small residential plots measuring up to 105 square metre (sqm).
Submission of a building plan prepared by an architect to the local body concerned along with other papers will mean the project has been sanctioned.
The laws grant civic agencies the power to give green clearances for individual projects of 5,000 sqm to 1,50,000 sqm so that one wouldn’t need to go to the Centre.
One may also adopt standard plans for residential plots up to 105 sqm. “The owner shall be entitled to sign standard plan and the required documents for sanction… Certificate from professionals would not be necessary and the owner shall be bound to follow the approved plan,” the bylaws said.
Urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the land-owning agency Delhi Development Authority will notify the laws, but the three municipal corporations will enforce them.
Civic agencies long demanded simplification of building-plan procurement. “The objective is to make thing easier, faster and transparent for Delhi residents. People will not need to visit corporation offices frequently once the new laws come into force. It will also help to curb corruption,” said an official of South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s engineering department.
However, the official said the three corporations had an online system for building plan approval under which 35-40 applications are cleared every month.
Pankaj Aggarwal, general secretary of Efforts Group (an umbrella organization of RWAs), said the initiative would not be of great help as it dealt with small plots.
“The standard building plans prepared for residential plots up to 105 sqm will suit the rehabilitation colonies only in the planned colonies, where minimum plot size is 125 sqm,” said the Safdarjung Enclave resident.
While the standard procedure ensures quick approval of the building plan, the laws don’t promise corruption elimination, he said. “Any engineer with malefide intension can raise objection at any level and stop the construction.”


with thanks : Hindustan Times : Dated 19.3.2016

No building plans needed for small plots in Delhi thanks to new bylaws


Do you own a small plot of land in Delhi and have been running from pillar to post for municipal approvals to build on it? Good news is on the way.
Residential plots of up to 1,130 sq. ft. will no longer require building plan approvals, and landowners will only have to furnish an undertaking from an architect that the construction is safe.
The new rules, part of a set of model building bylaws issued by the Union urban development ministry on Friday, will kick in in two weeks.
Model bylaws are not binding on a state but this should matter little in Delhi where land is controlled by the Delhi Development Authority that reports to the union urban development ministry. Many states had adopted the last set of model bylaws for buildings issued by the central government in 2004.
The government’s proposals are aimed at cutting red tape as well as corruption in the building approval process, which now involves more than a dozen clearances.
Building bylaws define how land can be used, permissible construction area (FAR) and height of structures, among other things.
The new rules also make it mandatory for civic bodies to issue building plan approvals within a month irrespective of the size of a plot. Also, no objection certificates for construction on big plots will be provided online so as to reduce contact between applicants and officials.
The new rules also waive off mandatory green clearances from the central government for individual projects on plots measuring up to 1.6 million sq. ft.
States municipalities can grant construction permits to such projects.
“The model bylaws will give a big boost to ease of doing business by creating an online single window integrated building plan approval process,” said Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu.
“It will eliminate man to man interaction and thereby reduce corruption. I urge the state governments to quickly take steps to adopt this progressive, environment friendly and citizen centric by-laws in their own laws and implement them.”
In a push for the Swachh Bharat Mission, the bylaws make it mandatory for public buildings to provide toilets for visitors.
A risk-based matrix for buildings has also been introduced.
“The objective of this analysis is that small buildings with low-risk criteria should be approved on a fast-track and high-risk buildings like malls, multi-story or big complexes should be examined in required detail,” a ministry official said.

with thanks : Hindustan Times : Dated 19.3.2016