Did NDMC Just Click The Growth Button For Delhi Real Estate?

It's not just the name upgrade that the erstwhile New Delhi Municipal Committee has seen since being set up in 1927. Rechristened New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC)  in 1994, the civic body has been at the forefront of altering the way the government machinery functions in the national capital. While the body has 14 facilitation centres across the city, you can also get in touch with the civic authorities using the popular chatting app WhatsApp.

Now, by deciding to approve building plans online, NDMC may have initiated a process that would significantly enhance ease of doing business in the national capital. NDMC has mooted the idea of making building plan approvals a quick online process, as the approval would be granted in just half the time — the process, which took at least 60 days earlier, is trimmed down to 30 days.

Under this single-window clearance system, all the approvals will be granted through one source, without people having to shuttle between multiple offices. “This hassle-free system will provide a single window for obtaining all approvals. Now, people will not have to run to multiple agencies for getting approvals. Everything has been integrated into a single system,” The Hindustan Times quoted NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar as saying.

How to go about it?

Go to the NDMC website, ndmc.gov.in

Click on link, 'Online Building Plan Approval'

Generate a login ID by filling in personal details

Upload your project drawing, prepared in a pre-DCR format, along with project information on the pop-up screen

As soon as the covered area and the number of floor-storeys are entered, the charges for plan submission fee and building tax will be generated automatically.

A challan will be generated, now you can make payment using the online payment gateway

A building scheme number and a site inspection date will be generated and sent to you through an SMS on your mobile number

The scrutiny report and site report will be submitted to higher authorities, along with the automatically generated additional and betterment levy and other charges for approval

You will receive information regarding other charges through an email

After depositing the required charges, the approved plan will be released in a PDF format.

 How will this change the way building plans are approved?

The idea: NDMC's main idea behind initiating an online approval process is to move further in its attempt to make the national capital more business-friendly and improve ease of doing business in the city. By shrinking the approval time to half, the civic body will be able to achieve this goal. Other civic bodies in the city are also upping their efforts to replicate the model.

The issue it addresses: A protracted approval process curbed redevelopment of properties in the NDMC region, which has under its jurisdiction the most expensive real estate in Delhi.

How it may trigger real estate growth: The National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT) comprises three local bodies — the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) , the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and the Cantonment Board. Within its ambit, NDMC covers an area of 42.74 sq km and houses a population of about 2,48,998, according to the 2011 Census. The Lutyens' Bungalow Zone falls under the NDMC jurisdiction. An online approval process may attract more redevelopment activity in the NDMC region, triggering real estate growth in the national capital. For the past couple of years, the saturated Delhi real estate market has seen little growth.

A paperless system: Till now, one had to manually fill the application and submit it to the authority office along with the hard copies of necessary documents and verified certificates. A time-consuming process for both parties, this system also led to much hassle and confusion. The new system, among other things, will help the civic body go paperless while keeping all the records intact.

The economic angle: According to advance estimates for the financial year 2016-17, the body could have revenue receipts of Rs 3,041.50 crore and expenditure Rs 3,005.54, reporting a small surplus. A single-window clearance system and reduced human efforts in the civic process will help NDMC save more and utilise such funds in building a better Delhi.