CREDAI appeals Govt. to increase LPA’s powers

City Corporations in Tamil Nadu previously had powers to give approval for residential building plans up to 7000 sq.ft. CREDAI had made representations to provide more power to the Corporations. On Oct 13, 2020, the State Government announced via a G.O that it has increased it from 7000 sq.ft  to 10,000 sq.ft.

Surendar Vittal, the President of CREDAI Coimbatore says that the association welcomes this move. “Any person willing to build at a residential space under 10,000 sq.ft for their own use can now approach corporation instead of going to the Local Planning Authority (LPA), and save considerable time. Individual houses will get much more comfortable to get approval now.”

When asked whether LPA should also be given a power-increase, Rajiv Ramaswamy, Secretary of CREDAI said “the current power vested with the Local Planning Authority authorizes them to give approval for residential buildings upto 15,000 sq.ft. Almost in all cities when you go for bigger construction, 15,000 sq.ft is considered low. So you will have to go to Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), Chennai for the approval.”

Rajiv opined “like how the corporations’ powers have been increased, if the LPA’s powers are also elevated, it would greatly benefit the buying public and developers in several ways. We have appealed to the Tamil Nadu Govt regarding provision of increased powers to LPA.”

CREDAI Coimbatore has been making continuous representations to the government regarding the provision of Master Plan of the city. Regarding that Rajiv said “this association had previously discussed with architects and govt bodies to bring up a common set of rules for buildings on a city and state level.”

The State Government brought the Common Building Development Rules into effect. While this can facilitate proper building developments in the state, the reason for issues with the development is that many cities don’t have Master Plan clearance.

“All associations in Coimbatore have been representing for it. If that clearance is given, Industrial, Commercial, Residential developments can happen easily. Farming areas could be properly given their due protection and harmony could be maintained. We have been asking for that for long and if that is provided, it would pave way to overall development” said Rajiv.

When asked what kind of support CREDAI thinks Government should give to people buying property, Surendar said “Today the document registration charges stands at 11% for a whole apartment. Since the majority of people do full-document registration, if the government lowers the registration charges to 6-4% like how other States like Maharashtra and Telangana are doing, just till March 2021, there will be a boost for sale. This will help in the revival of economy.”

Adding to this, Rajiv said “CREDAI has been appealing to the Govt that when a property is registered by a woman, providing a reduction of 1% in the registration charge will certainly be of help to her. Karnataka and Maharashtra are providing this subsidy. We will continue to represent the government to provide this support to women”