AREIDA Welcomes Government Notification on Transferable Development Rights

Such norms have been in existence for urban planning across the world since the 90s and we are happy that Assam will finally get the benefit of modern norms
AREIDA Welcomes Government Notification on Transferable Development Rights

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Sept 2: A meeting was held between the Assam Real Estate and Infrastructure Developers' Association (AREIDA) and Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) on August 31, 2022 where AREIDA members put forward their constructive suggestions and comments on the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and the Transferable Development Rights (TDR) draft notifications of the Government of Assam, which had been published for public comment and suggestions recently.

AREIDA president PK Sharma said, "AREIDA has wholeheartedly welcomed the notifications. Such norms have been in existence for urban planning across the world since the 90s and we are happy that Assam will finally get the benefit of modern norms."

The National TOD policy was notified in 2017 and several cities across the country have already adopted these norms. TDR as a means of acquiring land for road widening and other public amenities without any fiscal burden on the government makes the whole objective viable. TOD (Transit Oriented Development) aims to promote easy accessibility to public transport within walking distance by encouraging high density residential, commercial and mixed use development near mass transport nodes and major routes. Floor Area Ratios upto 400 is being proposed as per the National Policy for the purpose. It proposed to have a larger percentage of the population living and commuting to their destinations within easy access distance to mass public transport facilities.

TDR (Transferrable Development Rights) is a certificate allotting a constructible area as compensation for land surrendered/taken over by the government for public benefit. Sharma further said, "Guwahati particularly has been suffering from the bane of narrow road for decades. Successive Master Plans have proposed to widen each and every road whether existing or new and mandated since the past 30 years and in all buildings, land, in addition to front margins, had to be left vacant for surrender to the government for road widening as proposed in the Master Plan.

"Unfortunately the government could never acquire this land due to fund constraints; and the land remained vacant and the intent remained only on paper and no road widening ever took place. Once the TDR policy is notified, the government can compensate the patta holders with a TDR certificate without actual monetary payment. This TDR certificate will entitle the holder to construct additional area in the existing plot or plots in other locations or even sell the certificate to a third party. A Floor Area Ration of 325 would be allowed to enable the holder to accommodate this extra TDR area. This is already in operation in several cities across the country and is a very welcome development and we expect that all roads in Guwahati and other urban areas of Assam will be widened to make these cities more liveable."

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