CHENNAI: In a bid to eliminate procedural bottlenecks and improve transparency, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has decided to upgrade the online building planning system (OBPS). As part of the initiative, CMDA conducted a consultation meeting with realtors and builders’ associations on Saturday.
The planning authority said that detailed discussions were held on various aspects of the system’s functioning, including application processing, technical integration, workflow management, user interface improvements, and measures to further reduce approval timelines.
During the meeting, builders requested CMDA to revise the self-certification planning permission scheme to permit developments up to eight dwelling units (kitchens) and 10,000 sqft, and to extend the scheme to include commercial buildings.
Presently, the scheme is applicable only for small residential buildings on 2,500 sqft land. They also urged the planning authority to take measures to address and reduce delays in obtaining NOCs from various government departments, which is a prerequisite for construction. Other demands include review of FSI norms and consideration of an increase in FSI.
“All the suggestions and feedback received would be carefully examined and appropriate decisions would be taken at the earliest,” said CMDA member secretary AR Rahul Nadh.