Bhubaneswar: In a bid to boost the real estate sector and make housing schemes affordable in urban areas during the post-pandemic period, the Odisha government has introduced major reforms in the Development Authority Rules.
Odisha Urban Development Minister Pratap Jena said Friday that the state government has already notified the Odisha Development Authority (Planning & Building Standard) Rules, 2020, which aims at bringing uniformity of norms and procedure.
The new rules will also do away with the majority of the provisions of multiple regulations notified by different development authorities. This will help to introduce a common online platform for building plan approval throughout Odisha, informed Jena.
The new rules are both proactive and progressive and they will address the concerns of all the segments of urban population. There are many exemptions, relaxations and incentives, which will not only make the small private buildings easy to plan, construct and occupy, but will also encourage construction of large scale high-rise projects to make the housing units more affordable, the minister informed.
“The setbacks have been relaxed for almost all the categories of buildings. The restriction of maximum FAR (floor area ratio) on low risk buildings has been removed. One hundred and eight pre-approved designs for low-risk buildings have been made readily available, which will only reduce dependency of people on the architects, technical persons and the planning authorities. Because of the pre-approved designs, the plans will also get approved almost instantly,” Jena stated.
Now construction of houses and obtaining Occupancy Certificates will be much easier than before, Jena asserted. He added that provisions have also been made for development of commercial use in the residential buildings also.
The new rules will also facilitate significant improvement in the affordable housing sector through a lot of relaxations and exemptions. The setbacks, approach road, parking and many other building norms have been relaxed to attract more and more investment in the housing sector, the minister informed.
The minister said that the most significant is the amendment of the ‘Policy for Housing for All in Urban areas, Odisha, 2015’, which is going to attract more private partners to come forward to collaborate with the government in construction of affordable houses for the economically weaker section (EWS) and lower-income group (LIG) category.
Now the private developer can get 60 per cent of the project land on a freehold and free of cost basis for developing affordable housing over 40 per cent of the project area.
“Odisha is the first in the entire country to take such a path-breaking and progressive initiative. Besides, 20 per cent of all plotted developments will have to provide for EWS and LIG categories,” Jena stated.
He said, the rules have raised the limits of maximum FAR up to seven, which is the highest in the country. This will make high rise buildings possible. Setbacks have been relaxed. Exemptions have been given in the stilt, basement, and others, he said.
Replying to a question, the minister said structural stability and fire safety norms have been made non-negotiable. He said the government has also been conscious of the environmental impact, therefore the ground coverage restrictions have been introduced along with various measures for enhancing green cover and open spaces.