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Stakeholders to have say in master plan
The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority will be convening a series of meetings to consult stakeholders regarding the operationalisation of the second master plan. CMDA member secretary Vikram Kapur said that rules and guidelines would be finalized based on the outcome of consultations with builders, civil society groups and other stakeholders.
M G Devasahayam, managing trustee of Citizens’ Alliance for Sustainable Living and a member of the CMDA monitoring committee, had demanded convening of an expert group to discuss rules to implement the innovative initiatives announced in the plan document. The new initiatives include transfer of development rights, permission for additional floor space index (FSI – the ratio between the area of the plot and the permissible built-up space) against payment of a premium fee, introduction of affordable housing and multilevel parking facility. “While introducing such development-friendly measures, it is also imperative to have proper rules in place to prevent their gross misuse. Transparent rules should be put in place before implementing the new master plan,” he said. The master plan also mandates appointment of five committees – economy and employment committee, land use and environment committee, traffic and transportation committee, shelter and infrastructure committee and investment planning and governance committee – to review the implementation of the plan. Constitution of these committees would go a long way in ensuring proper consultation with the stakeholders, he noted.
Builders, meanwhile, have raised several issues. Prakash Challa, president of the Tamil Nadu unit of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers ‘ Association of India, said, “The cut-off date for implementation of the master plan is critical. As of now, it is ambiguous whether an application, pending for long for approval, will be cleared as per the new master plan or the old plan. If the builders have to re-submit the applications, it will consume a lot of time. Hence, for all pending applications, a choice should be given to the builders to decide whether they want to get clearance soon based on the old rules or whether they want to rework the plan to enjoy benefits as per the new guidelines.” Though the master plan permits construction of multi-storey buildings (MSBs) on roads with a minimum width of 40 feet, traffic police could raise objections citing that certain roads cannot handle heavy traffic. Without clearance from the traffic police, it was not possible to get CMDA clearance for high-rise structures and hence the two departments should work out modalities for clearing such applications, he noted.
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