Faster project approvals boost real estate sector
Government go ahead coming much faster for past two months
Developers across the country have been stuck for long with projects due to delay in getting approvals as the government tightened norms and authorities became cautious after several real estate scams were unearthed.
Off late, things are improving with the government focusing on speeding up execution of projects across the country.
Developers complained that they had to wait for as long as two years to get approvals for their projects. However, in the past couple of months, things have improved with approvals coming in sooner. Faster processing of approvals would increase supply of residences, experts said.
Rajesh Doshi, executive director, Acme Housing India, said, “Project approvals were stuck for as long as two years but in the past couple of months it has really improved because of which we plan to launch a few projects this year.”
Acme recently launched a luxury project at Andheri East in Mumbai and plans to develop about 10 million square feet of residential and commercial real estate at Mumbai and also in Gujarat over the next 5-7 years. Mumbai will remain as a key area of focus where Acme Group has drawn up plans to be leaders in quality affordable housing, society redevelopment, slum rehabilitation and green-field projects.
Delhi-based Supertech said the company has recently got approval for one project in Gurgaon and plans to launch another five in 2015-16. “For the Gurgaon project’s approval we had to wait for almost one-and-a-half years to two years. But things are expected to improve with the approval process speeding up in the future and we are planning to launch five projects this year,” said Mohit Arora, director, Supertech.
Experts said speeding up of the approval process will improve supply of residential projects in the market while developers would gain as their capital cost would reduce on early project execution.
Pankaj Kapoor, chief executive officer, Liases Foras, said, “It is true that in the last couple of months things have improved with fast approvals coming. Many projects across the country were stuck due to lack of approvals and the supply side constraint will get cleared if approvals come on time. Further, when a project gets delayed holding costs of developer increases significantly.”
Kapoor, however, added that though things have improved they are not yet fully on track. Average time for project approvals continue to remain at around six months.
Sunil Mantri, chairman of Mantri Realty and president of National Real Estate Development Council, said, “Things have improved to a large extent in the last few months. We are in talks with the concerned government authorities to speed up the entire process of project approvals. Around 60 approvals are required for any new project and to get all the approvals it takes a lot of time. What officials can do is look at whether land title is clear, if the property is demarcated properly, if the property falls under clear zone and not under forest area among others and provide in-principle approval of construction subject to demolition of the project if any irregularities are found. The crucial 20 approvals should be given at the earliest while rest like electricity permission and other routine permission can be given latter.”
Mantri said this would speed up approval process as well as construction process.
Off late, things are improving with the government focusing on speeding up execution of projects across the country.
Developers complained that they had to wait for as long as two years to get approvals for their projects. However, in the past couple of months, things have improved with approvals coming in sooner. Faster processing of approvals would increase supply of residences, experts said.
Rajesh Doshi, executive director, Acme Housing India, said, “Project approvals were stuck for as long as two years but in the past couple of months it has really improved because of which we plan to launch a few projects this year.”
Acme recently launched a luxury project at Andheri East in Mumbai and plans to develop about 10 million square feet of residential and commercial real estate at Mumbai and also in Gujarat over the next 5-7 years. Mumbai will remain as a key area of focus where Acme Group has drawn up plans to be leaders in quality affordable housing, society redevelopment, slum rehabilitation and green-field projects.
Delhi-based Supertech said the company has recently got approval for one project in Gurgaon and plans to launch another five in 2015-16. “For the Gurgaon project’s approval we had to wait for almost one-and-a-half years to two years. But things are expected to improve with the approval process speeding up in the future and we are planning to launch five projects this year,” said Mohit Arora, director, Supertech.
Experts said speeding up of the approval process will improve supply of residential projects in the market while developers would gain as their capital cost would reduce on early project execution.
Pankaj Kapoor, chief executive officer, Liases Foras, said, “It is true that in the last couple of months things have improved with fast approvals coming. Many projects across the country were stuck due to lack of approvals and the supply side constraint will get cleared if approvals come on time. Further, when a project gets delayed holding costs of developer increases significantly.”
Kapoor, however, added that though things have improved they are not yet fully on track. Average time for project approvals continue to remain at around six months.
Sunil Mantri, chairman of Mantri Realty and president of National Real Estate Development Council, said, “Things have improved to a large extent in the last few months. We are in talks with the concerned government authorities to speed up the entire process of project approvals. Around 60 approvals are required for any new project and to get all the approvals it takes a lot of time. What officials can do is look at whether land title is clear, if the property is demarcated properly, if the property falls under clear zone and not under forest area among others and provide in-principle approval of construction subject to demolition of the project if any irregularities are found. The crucial 20 approvals should be given at the earliest while rest like electricity permission and other routine permission can be given latter.”
Mantri said this would speed up approval process as well as construction process.
by Jharna Mazumdar
Source :- Financial Chronicle
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