Need for a ‘single window approval’ system in real estate grows
Real estate projects in India are mostly facing delays in completion due to the existing prolonged system of seeking approvals. In general, developers have to seek over thirty clearances to land a residential project, which in our system, takes few years to obtain.
To overcome this issue and make the process simpler, it is necessary to implement a system like single window system for all required approvals. Although the housing ministry has been saying for long that such a system will be introduced, nothing has been done in this regard.
Single window approval system would be a one-stop solution to several project-related issues, opine experts. Its main focus will be towards rationalising the process of seeking clearances for real estate projects and thereby cutting down the time taken for procedural delays in a project completion. With such a system in place, both developers as well as buyers will be largely benefited by the system.
Following the Cabinet’s approval to the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) has directed a committee to prepare a report on the implementation of a single window clearance system for seeking approvals and necessary permissions for promoters. The Bill, while favoring buyers in all possible ways, has put major burden on the part of developers. Instead of reducing the risk in the process of seeking approvals, it has added another window wherein the developers has to register their projects before selling any unit.
As per the Bill, it is mandatory for developers to get all the approvals before even promoting their projects and in this case, a single window clearance system will allow them to get all the requisite permissions within a particular time span, which will also prevent project delays.
Ajay Maken has announced that the ministry is presently giving high importance to single window clearance and is striving to kick start the process. Though it is still not decided as from when the single window clearance system will be implemented, Maken is hopeful that some states are taking the lead.
A fixed span of time has to be set by the government within which a project has to be given all the approvals. Hypothetically, it may be easier if the state regulators (to be formed as proposed in the Bill) are empowered to give single window clearance to all the residential projects coming up in the respective states.
If a single window system for clearance of real estate projects throughout the country is expected to bring down average approval time from 196 days to 45-60 days.
Once the single window clearance system is introduced, the real estate in India will surely get a major boost. The average time required for clearance of real estate projects in India is likely to come down to 45-60 days from nearly 200 days. The system is also expected to improve the cash flow of a project which would further reduce the project cost too.
