A panel set up to streamline the approvals procedure
for real estate projects has recommended the single-window clearance model in a
report that does not have any inputs from the ministry of environment.
Large real estate projects require clearances from the
Airports Authority of India (AAI) and also the environment ministry, which is a
time-consuming procedure that often leads to project delays and cost
escalation.
According to a senior official, representatives of
the environment and forests ministry have stayed away from every meeting of the
panel, which was set up last year under former Competition Commission of India
(CCI) Chairman Mr. Dhanendra Kumar.
Mr. Ajay
Maken, minister for housing and urban poverty alleviation said, "We will
write to the ministry of environment & forests to come on board of this
committee and give their inputs for a single-window clearance mechanism".
The committee, which made a presentation to Mr. Maken
last week, is expected to submit its final report by the end of the March
(2013) month.
All real estate projects with over 2,00,000 square
feet of built-up space need environment clearance from state governments. These state government departments follow norms
laid down by the central ministry for environment & forests.
A senior environment ministry official said, ''The
ministry's expert appraisal committee, which is a statutory body, takes the
decision regarding clearance and an officer, therefore, can not make
commitments on the issue. The environment ministry is a regulatory body and so
when it comes to a single-window clearance mechanism, it can not be on the same
platform as a promoter ministry"
T official adding that delays also creep in because
of incomplete proposals.
A similar situation arose with the commerce
ministry's e-biz portal & was resolved by providing a link to the
environment ministry.
According to the guidelines, the process of granting
environmental clearance should be completed within 210 days from the time the
proposal is submitted to the ministry. For the final decision, the guidelines
provide for 45 days after the expert appraisal committee gives its
recommendation.
The report has suggested ways in which approval
timelines for real estate projects can be shortened. This will help developers
realign house prices, as delays in government approvals, which sometimes run
into years, can push up costs by as much as 40 %.
About 20 to 30 % of this cost escalation is due to
delays in environment clearance for projects, according to Mr. Lalit Kumar
Jain, National president, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations
of India (CREDAI).
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