Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam told a gathering at Statecon on Friday that the State government will allow multi-storeyed buildings in approved layouts, facilitating development of more built-up space in such areas. The State government is expected to issue a government order shortly in this connection.
Urban planners said the decision is likely to lead to an increase in the built-up area in localities such as Anna Nagar, Besant Nagar and K.K. Nagar.
"Currently the permissible floor space index (FSI) is 1.5. If multi-storeyed buildings are permitted in planned areas, builders will be able to develop a maximum FSI of 2.75,” an official said.
As a result, builders will develop more homes or commercial units on a piece of land. "The cost of flats may reduce in such areas. But the load on civic infrastructure may increase. The peaceful and serene atmosphere in areas such as Besant Nagar will be lost," said a developer. However, it will be a bounty for buyers, developers and those who invest in land will be happy. Currently, buildings in such areas are developed with a maximum of four floors and parking space on the ground floor.
Civic officials said the amount of sewage generated in such areas will increase because of the decision. Residence for more households in the area would also cause traffic congestion on roads within a few years of the government allowing development of such multi-storeyed buildings in the approved layouts. However, ridership in public transit system such as Metro rail is expected to increase because of higher density of development in areas such as Anna Nagar and KK Nagar.
Civic agencies should develop infrastructure to meet the civic needs of residents in such high density of development, said an urban planner.
The government has also decided to permit developers to resize apartments in multi-storeyed buildings. CMDA will be empowered to permit the changes in the plan of multi-storeyed buildings following a request by CREDAI. "This is expected to improve market conditions," said an official.
Currently , the application for changing the plan of a multi-storeyed building has to be cleared by a panel comprising officials from Chennai Corporation, Traffic Police, Metrowater, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, CMDA or the local body concerned. This has caused a delay in many projects in the city. More than 30 percent of the developers have started resizing the apartments to attract buyers in Chennai Metropolitan Area in the past few months.
"Most of the buyers opt for apartment priced less than one crore. So we are resizing to suit the buyer. But a delay of six to eight months has been caused by the panel, " said a developer.
