As India strives to build infrastructure to match its global economic ambitions, India Inc has sought a comprehensive overhaul of construction permits issuance processes that it says would help the country to build modern, resilient and inclusive infrastructure. This is a must for industrial progress, improved living standards and enhanced global competitiveness, the CII said urging the government to carry out reforms in this key area, that falls under the purview of the centre and the state governments.
Noting with concern that many states in the country are found wanting on this aspect, the Confederation of Indian Industry, one of the leading chambers of industry, has urged the governments to streamline construction permits processes and procedures at a broader level, which need reforms at a pan-India level.
Yes indeed, India has made progress in this area as reflected the last World Bank’s Doing Business Report, where India’s ranking leapfrogged from 185th in 2017 to 27th in 2020 in the ‘Dealing with Construction Permits’ parameter, based on performance of Delhi and Mumbai. Many other states have also introduced innovative practices to streamline the process in this important area. “Yet, obtaining Construction permits in majority of the states continue to remain cumbersome, complex, offline, non-transparent and time-consuming process,” said, Ajay Shriram, Chairman, CII Task Force on Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) and Chairman & Sr. Managing Director, DCM Shriram Ltd.
A slew of reforms needed
“While India’s infrastructure ambitions largely centre around agile and transparent construction permits ecosystem, fragmented approvals and procedural delays surrounding it continue to pose challenges for industry across majority of states. We compliment the government of India for placing this as one of the high priority areas for deregulation and facilitation. A cohesive, technology-driven, faceless, time-bound, trust-based and accountable framework is the need of the hour for ensuring adherence to project timelines and boosting investors’ confidence,” the CII official said.
For this, the leading chamber has a slew of suggestions for the consideration of the government at the national level and to the governments in the states as well.
For starters, the CII said, states can have a an effective Online Single Window System (SWS) for the integrated submission, processing and approval of construction permits with essential features such as an online fee calculator to estimate permit costs, integrated payment solutions, auto scrutiny of building plans with advanced software like Auto development control regulation (DCR), Online Building Plan Approval System, dynamic dashboard to track status on applications, legally binding deemed approval timelines and faceless approval process.
Unified authority for construction clearances
A unified state-level authority should oversee integration and smooth functioning of all approvals, including fire safety, environmental clearances and utility connections, across departments within this system.
The industry body further said, it was necessary to ensure that a Single Joint Site Inspection is conducted by all relevant authorities, including Fire, Sewerage, Electricity, etc., to reduce redundancy and ensure that inspections are coordinated, thereby shortening the overall timeline for approvals.
Third, enable conditional approvals in cases where only minor documentation gaps exist, instead of outright rejection and requiring full resubmissions. Also, auto-generated deficiency notes should clearly identify specific missing or incorrect items. And in addition, an online feature should be enabled to allow amendments to building and layout plans, ensuring quick corrections in line with statutory norms and construction requirements, thus preventing unnecessary delays, the CII urged.
Enforcing strict timelines at each stage of permit approval processes, creation of standardised design templates for buildings, allowing certified third-party agencies to conduct compliance inspections, evolving a uniform building code/building by-laws, and mandatory training and certification programs for approving officers, municipal staff and empanelled professionals are the other suggestions that the CII hoped would lead to a significant enhancement of the processes that can speed up construction of infrastructure.
More important, it said, there was a need to revisit restrictive building regulations for industrial plots, particularly limits on ground coverage (horizontal expansion) and floor area ratio (vertical expansion), which led to significant underutilisation of land across states.
Easier permits will help spur growth
The industry body hoped that this, if done, would be useful to develop broad guidelines for states for allowing greater flexibility in plot usage, taking into account local conditions, technological advancements, water recharge needs, safety considerations, as well as best practices from states and other countries.
Lastly, as there is no standardised mechanism to assess and compare the efficiency and transparency of construction permitting processes across states, it may be useful to launch a ‘National Construction Permitting Reform Index’ (NCPRI) to benchmark and rank states/UTs on key indicators such as approval timelines, compliance rates, inspector accountability, and digitisation depth. The index should be updated on real-time basis by picking up performance indicators from single window system of states / UTs.
This set of comprehensive reforms will reduce bottlenecks, promote transparency and encourage investments, Shriram said adding, ”The CII remains committed to partner with all relevant stakeholders to realise a construction sector that matches India’s growth aspirations and global competitiveness.”
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