Bonanza for builders: FSI rules eased in other cities

The development control regulations (DCR) in the second master plan of Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) have been made applicable to several cities across the state, including Coimbatore, Tiruchi and Madurai. It aims to to provide uniform guidelines for constructing buildings and developing layouts in all urban centres.

Builders will enjoy higher floor space index (FSI is the ratio of land area to the builtup space). It will go up from 1.8 to 2.5 on wider roads. There is provision for special buildings (ground plus three floors) on 30 feet roads and for multistoreyed buildings on 40 feet roads. The CMDA also exempts lift area, stairways and car parks from the FSI, which permit builders to have more built-up and saleable space. The same benefits will now be extended to builders outside Chennai also, said Pankaj Kumar Bansal, director of town and country planning (DTCP).

However, the CMDA regulations warrant more car parks than what the DTCP’s earlier rules prescribed. As per earlier norms, it specified one car park facility per 1,000 sq ft of built-up space, whereas the CMDA norms specify one car park per every 800 sq ft.

Other planning areas brought under the ambit of the same DCR are Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Salem, Erode, Tirupur, Vellore and suburban areas in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. These planning authorities will now make appropriate changes in their building rules.

The first masterplan of the CMDA was implemented in five areas — Tiruchi, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Salem and Coimbatore — a few years ago. The first master plan was implemented by CMDA in 1975 and the second master plan was rolled out in September 2008.

As per the revised DCR, height of highrise buildings will be proportional to the width of abutting roads. Buildings up to a height of 60 metres will be permitted on roads with a width of 18 metres and above. To construct above 60 meters, the width of the abutting road should be a minimum of 30.5 metres.

Any residential development on sites measuring 2.5 acres or above should have 10% of the project earmarked for people belonging to low income groups and economically weaker sections.

These houses should not exceed 485 sq ft in size. The concept of premium FSI also has been introduced, which permits the builder to construct more space than the permissible FSI against payment of a fee.

The government has constituted an empowered committee comprising secretaries of housing and municipal administration, member secretary of CMDA and director of town and country planning to look into specific cases and, if need be, to relax planning parameters.