NEFOMA

Delhi/NCR

The Greater Noida Authority (GNIDA) has passed a proposal to increase the floor area ratio (FAR) of group housing plots from 2.75 to 3.50. The proposal was cleared in the 90th board meeting of the authority.

“Increasing the population density norm and the FAR allows developers to construct more and help builders to bring down the pro-rata land costs,” said Anil Sharma, CMD Amrapali Group and vice president of CREDAI-NCR.

At present, developers are allowed to build only around 2.75 times of the ground area of a project. That means, on a 1,00,000 sq feet plot of land, a builder can build 2,75,000 sq ft if it is a green building. That means that they can build 275 apartments of 1,000 sq feet each.

“We have sent the proposal to the state government for an increase in the existing FAR and also invited objections as well as suggestions on the proposal,” said a Greater Noida Authority official.

“After ironing out the objections we will forward the proposal to the state and as soon as we receive the nod, we will notify it for implementation,” he added.

Once approved, the Authority will allow developers to build 3.5 times of the ground area. That means, on a 1,00,000 sq ft land, a builder can build 350 flats. This will help them recover the extra cost they are likely to bear in the acquisition of land without putting burden on the buyers.

“The increase in the floor area ratio would be good for the buyers. Also, the hike in future projects of developers can be checked because of the enhanced FAR,” said Sharma.

“This move by the Authority will also address the issue of shortage of land, which is ultimate likely to occur. Moreover, increased FAR would translate into more flats and the concept of affordable housing could be revived,” added Sharma.

Some developers though are sceptical about the move, claiming that increased FAR would not decrease the load on them because of hiked rates of land. While agreeing that it would have a positive effect on future projects, the developers lamented the burden on existing projects. “In the past three months itself, the Greater Noida Authority has hiked land rates by more than 40% for all categories of land. This has put a tremendous burden on us. If we have to purchase an extra FAR for existing projects, we will again have to shell out more,” said R K Arora, CMD of Supertech Group.

“The Greater Noida Authority needs to devise other means to help us tide over this difficult time,” he added.

Source: The Times of India, New Delhi