Government gives option for layout owners to develop their own infrastructure

The move modifies an earlier order stating they have to pay local bodies for the work

Developers or owners of layouts have been allowed to carry out infrastructure development works as per the standards prescribed by the local bodies concerned or pay the estimated cost to the local bodies for the execution of the works.

An order to this effect was issued by the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department on Saturday, modifying an earlier order from December 2020 on the matter.

About one and a half years ago, the State government decided that while approving the layout in the limits of the Greater Chennai Corporation or those of others, the necessary fees, including the charges for providing amenities such as roads, stormwater drains and street lights, would be collected from the applicants, after which the permit of the planning authority and approval of the local body would be issued directly to them.

This condition has led to complaints from real estate developers, especially from Tiruppur and Erode districts, that despite the payment of the fees, the local bodies are taking “too much time” to provide the amenities, causing a delay in the sale of plots and a “huge loss” to the developers.

They requested the government to restore the original method, wherein the developers were permitted to provide the amenities on their own before the local bodies issued the final approval. The State chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India had also approached the government with a plea for framing a similar arrangement with respect to all local bodies, including the urban ones, coming under the jurisdiction of the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration.

After consultations with the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and the Director of Town and Country Planning, the government decided that the local bodies, apart from prescribing the standards, should ensure the quality of the work carried out by the developers or owners before taking over the infrastructure.

A “reasonable period” would have to be stipulated for the upkeep of the infrastructure. In the event of layouts developing at a “slow pace”, the maintenance period would be extended till 60% of the plots in a given layout were sold or for five years, whichever was later, according to the order issued by Hitesh Kumar S. Makwana, Principal Secretary of the HUD Department.