Even as the real estate developers are battling the Covid-19 induced demand slowdown, the realty sector on Saturday received a booster dose with Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani making a slew of announcements.
Permission to purchase agricultural land for affordable housing
Real estate developers will now be allowed to purchase agricultural land for affordable housing under Section 63AAA of the Gujarat Tenancy Act. The section allows purchase of agricultural land for bona fide industrial purpose.
“To ensure availability of land for affordable housing and provide more affordable homes to the people, the state government will permit purchase of agricultural land for affordable housing under the Section 63AAA,” Rupani said while inaugurating the virtual property show of GIHED-CREDAI.
“With this, a developer will be able to buy agricultural land in the name of his company and the process to convert land into non-agricultural land can be initiated after the acquisition. This will reduce overall project cost and ensure faster execution of realty projects,” said Ashish Patel, president, CREDAI-Gujarat.
Carpet area for affordable housing projects raised
The chief minister also announced raising the carpet area limit for affordable housing units from current 80 square metre to 90 square metre. At present, a housing unit with a carpet area of up to 80 square metre, as defined under realty law RERA — falls under the affordable housing category.
With the raising of the threshold, housing units with 90 square metre. will be included in affordable housing. Developers say the increase in carpet area will result in consumers getting spacious and bigger houses under affordable housing.
Interest relief on chargeable FSI
The state government will also provide interest relief on payment of chargeable FSI (floor price index). The developers have to pay charges for additional FSI above the permissible base FSI. An interest is charged if the amount is paid in instalments.
The state government will also bring a uniform policy with regard to chargeable FSI. According to realtors, this will reduce project cost and speed up project launches.
Premium on land in non-TP areas
The state government is also considering the demand of real estate developers that the premium on new tenure land be levied only after the mandatory deduction of land in non-town planning (non-TP) areas.
“We will deliberate on this demand in consultation with the revenue department so that developers do not have to pay more premium than required,” Rupani added.
According to CREDAI-Gujarat, the government has also decided to remove the floor height restriction of 3.6 metres.
Same day approval to low-rise building plans
Stating that steps are being taken to further simplify the building plan approval process under online development permission system (ODPS), the chief minister added the government is working towards granting building plan approvals to low-rise buildings on the same day.
“And this will not be a provisional but a final approval,” Rupani added. The announcement in this regard is likely to be made in the next eight days.
