Even as hundreds of builders have defaulted and are yet to collect their more than Rs 100 crore worth of tree plantation deposits, the civic body has increased the refund amount by Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 per tree for residential and Rs 5,000 per tree for commercial projects after five years.
The refunds ideally are to be collected by the builders only if they show to the site inspecting officers of the AMC that tree plantations have survived at the site. According to the General Development Control Regulations (GDCR) of 2017, builders are required to plant at least five trees for every 200 square metre area, which is mandatory in Ahmedabad city.
Similarly, the AMC from this year onwards has introduced Rs 75,000 percolating well deposit. “The purpose of the percolating refundable surcharge is to ensure that builders construct percolating wells in newly constructed societies at the time of BU permission,” said a senior AMC official. However, sources in the AMC said that in May this year, when AMC inspected 1,404 percolating wells that it had over the last one year, many were either ill maintained or did not exist at all at the site.
The increases are the first in five years. The construction fee has been increased threefold — from Rs 20 per square metre to Rs 60 per square metre.
AMC deputy municipal commissioner I K Patel said that the fee and deposit increases were necessary to cover the rising costs of services for new projects.