About 30 projects to build three lakh square feet of office and commercial space at various places in the city, valued at around Rs 300 crore, are stuck because the words ‘mixed residential’ were left out of the new rules governing building permissions.
Realtors say the omission in the Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules, 2019, which replaced development regulations of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has hit a market already short of commercial space.
“Obtaining clearance for commercial buildings in areas that were notified as ‘mixed residential’ by CMDA has become a cumbersome process because ‘mixed’ has been knocked off from the building rules. Developers are stuck just when there is more demand for commercial construction in the core city [which is largely mixed residential],” said Builders Association of India’s southern centre chairman S Ramaprabhu.
Housing and urban development department sources said the government took a conscious decision not to continue with mixed residential zones as they ended up as mostly commercial zones affecting residential areas.
Realtors said projects are held up in Adyar, Ashok Nagar, Anna Nagar, Kilpauk and Purasawalkam.
The issue came to light after CMDA rejected planning permissions for commercial ventures in ‘mixed residential’ areas saying the category was not listed in the new common building rules. While development regulations of CMDA had the category ‘mixed residential’, the new building rules’ land use zones include ‘residential’ but not ‘mixed residential’. Colleges and research institutions are also allowed in mixed residential areas with special sanction from the CMDA.
A report by real estate consultant Knight Frank India in July said that office space supply recorded a 76% drop during the first half in 2019 when compared with the corresponding period of last year.
The Chennai office market recorded 6% year-on-year growth in transactions, a positive growth for the first time since 2017, it added.
The Tamil Nadu chapter chairman of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India, S Sridharan, said the issue has been taken up with the government for necessary amendments. A senior urban development official told, “Following several representations, commercial area will be permitted based on the road width without compromising on residential areas. An amendment has been circulated and it is likely to be approved within 15 days.”