The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has hiked the fees for approval of maps for any construction in the city by over 5%. The revised charges will come into effect from April 1.
Officials have attributed the hike to an increase in cost index under various heads like external development charges, sewer connection charges and inspection fees. But homebuyers say the charges increased on all heads will cumulatively result in a 5.2% hike in map clearance fees, which would, in turn, push up the property prices in the city.
“The hike in map approval fees has been necessitated because of the increase in cost index under various heads. The map clearance fees charged on the basis of per square metre of area will, however, vary from locality to locality,” said GDA’s chief town planner Asheesh Shivpuri.
For instance, in Shalimar Garden, the previous rate was Rs 1,890 per sqm, which has now been hiked to Rs 1,911. Similarly, in Ramprastha, the rate per sqm is now Rs 1,336 as against the earlier Rs 1,268. In Ashok Nagar, the new rates will be Rs 702 per sqm as against Rs 666 charged earlier. So, now to pass a building map of 200 sqm of land, people will have to pay anything between Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000 extra.
“In group housing societies, however, the developer will have to pay anything between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh extra as map clearance fees for 2,000 sqm of land,” said Shivpuri. “The metro and elevated road cess have also been increased. While metro cess has been increased to Rs 367 per sqm from the earlier Rs 348, the elevated road cess has seen a hike from Rs 629 per sqm to Rs 692.”
Homebuyers and RWAs, on the other hand, have criticised the hike. “At a time when people are still recovering from pandemic-induced job losses and pay cuts, the hike in map approval charges is unwanted. It will only hurt the middle class more financially,” said Ashish Kumar, a resident of Supertech in Indirapuram. “When it comes to providing services, GDA has utterly failed to deliver but all they want is to extract more from us,” he added.
