Building Approvals: Getting to the finish line!
By Aparna Dua, Senior Manager and Shreya Krishnan, Consultant, Asha Impact
Anyone who has been through the process of applying for building construction approvals in India will liken it to running a hurdles race — in the dark. If you succeed at deciphering the labyrinthine regulations, there is a myriad of paperwork required through several visits to countless government departments. And all of this assuming that the first hurdle is crossed: ensuring that your plot is clearly marked out and there are no boundary disputes due to inaccurate or patchy land records. There is uncertainty at every step including long wait times of often more than two years.
The World Bank’s Doing Business rankings in 2014 reflected this dismal state of affairs by ranking India a distant 182 out of 189 countries in ease of obtaining a construction permit.
Come 2018, there has been a sea change. Since 2015, the Central Government and the municipal corporations of Mumbai and Delhi have been vigorously pursuing reforms to streamline construction approvals under what is termed “Ease of Doing Business” initiatives spearheaded by the Ministry of Commerce. As a result, both cities have transitioned to a completely digital mode of operating for construction approvals. Now, applicants can apply for a Building Plan approval and the vast majority of NOCs online, and can find out the status of their application online as well.
The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), has introduced reforms to reduce the total number of procedures from 42 to 8 and the number of approvals from 119 to 58.
At Asha Trust, we set out to discover what the real bottlenecks were for obtaining approvals in the stipulated timeframe and what more could be done to make the process even more user friendly. Here’s what we learnt about MCGM’s (and Government of Maharashtra’s) streamlined approvals procedures:
1. Are all processes digital?
The MCGM has successfully made it possible to apply for building approvals online from start to finish, through their online portal and by harnessing the potential of digital signatures. While there may be hiccups on the ground in terms of actual implementation and training of staff on the new processes, in theory it is completely possible to never have to visit a government office during the entire approvals process, which is a striking achievement.
- Building Plan Proposal and almost all NOCs from various government departments can be applied for on the MCGM website. Those NOCs that are still offline will soon be integrated into the system. Many NOCs have been removed and/or simplified and in some cases replaced with a simple self or 3rd party certification by means of a licensed surveyor or architect. Instead of waiting for an engineer to visit the site for a Further Plinth Commencement Certificate , applicants can submit video clippings online, which will be scrutinised by the relevant official. In fact, in some cases, approvals can be provided the same day due to automated approvals by deploying AutoDCR software.
- If your proposed building falls into a “low risk” or “moderate risk” category (defined generally as an RCC¹ structure of G+1 or less), you don’t even need to apply for Building Plan Approval, as long as a licensed architect or surveyor signs off on it.
- Also, you can apply for your property registration card (PRC) online in a simple, painless process through the Government of Maharashtra’s Aaple Sarkar website, and view your digital PRC on the Mahabulekh website (the website of the Maharashtra Land Records Department).
- Last but not the least, MCGM has digitised all maps and put the Development Plan online here, allowing you to look up your plot and get all the key information that you would need to begin your building plan proposal, including all NOCs required on a plot by plot basis. All you need to know to find your plot is your Ward, Village/Subdivision name and CTS number (which would be on your property registration card). And yes, this is available for both the DCR 1991 and DCPR 2034. Information that earlier required many visits to the Development Plan Section, Revenue Department and searching for old out of date maps that may or may not tally with each other are now two clicks away and in a format that is easily accessible to everyone.
2. What if I submit my application and I hear nothing back?
Using the online system is not equivalent to submitting into a void. MCGM has also put in measures to ensure transparency in the process. Applicants get SMS alerts when the application moves forward at each stage. To further increase transparency, MCGM has made all building applications open to the public so that any irregularities can be caught. What is missing, however, is a redressal mechanism specifically for building approvals.
3. Is approval guaranteed in 8 simple steps and 60 days?
No, you cannot get construction approvals in 8 simple steps as you also need to factor in the steps required to engage a 3rd party consultant for several NOCs, and all the hidden steps mandated in self certification processes. It ends up being more than 8 steps (we have counted at least 21 including transactions with 3rd parties), but less than 42
And you cannot be guaranteed of getting your approval within 60 days. MCGM’s publicly available data shows that almost 1/3rd of all applications are rejected at the IOD² stage (this number is greater at almost 50% for Concessions), and the MCGM public online dashboard does not track how many times each application is rejected at different stages or the same stage. If your application is in the rejected pile (and there is at least a 1 in 3 chance of that), then be prepared for the process to take longer, with extra steps.
4. Are approvals less expensive than they were before?
And again, unfortunately, no. Fees for approvals have increased from the previous year as per information put out by MCGM, which is counterintuitive since automated scrutiny and digitization of processes including site visits should result in less cost per approval. It is therefore possible that MCGM is treating building plan approvals as a future source of guaranteed and ever-expanding revenue.
5. What about areas outside Mumbai?
Most, but not all of the reforms discussed above are specific to Mumbai. There are plans to have a single window online portal for the state of Maharashtra as a whole. However, issues such as computer literacy, training applicants to use a digital system, and ensuring strong development control mechanisms to ensure compliance in rural and peri-urban areas need to also be tackled.
All of the above shows that while the MCGM’s streamlining of construction approvals is much-needed and has resulted in a profound change to the status quo, more is needed.
This is the first in a two-part series by Asha Trust. In our second post on this topic, we will discuss our suggestions for how to streamline the process even further based on our analysis and best practices. We would love to hear your comments and feedback on the building approvals process as well.
[1] Reinforced cement concrete
[2] Intimation of Disapproval
