Amarinder Singh unveils Punjab Municipal Building Bylaws

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday unveiled amended people-friendly Punjab Municipal building bylaws.

A statement from Punjab Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said: "Plugging the deficiencies in the earlier provisions and seeking to give a boost to the sluggish construction and infrastructure development activity in the state the Punjab Chief Minister unveiled amended people-friendly Punjab Municipal Building Bylaws."

Local minister Brahm Mohindra said the new bylaws, covering construction of residential, commercial and industrial buildings, including hotels, miniplexes and other infrastructure projects, are aimed at making construction activity in the state more seamless and hassle-free for all the stakeholders, thus reviving the sector in the state.

Additional Chief Secretary local government Sanjay Kumar said that the bylaws had been notified by the Town Planning Wing of the Local Government Department on December 31, 2019.

"As per the amended bylaws, Cinemas would now be considered as miniplexes, with their capacity enhanced to four from the earlier two, and the seats increased to 999 without any bar of minimum seats per cinema fixed at 250 earlier," the statement said.

"For inviting investments in small ULBs, the frontage of the plot for miniplex has been reduced to accommodate the small plot sizes in Class I and II towns. Further, the owner or builder can now convert his existing Cinema to Miniplex with the commercial component on 50 feet wide road too. Ground coverage of mini plex has also been increased," the statement said.

The statement further said, "Keeping vertical growth in consideration, the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of multiplexes have been increased on different sizes of roads. This will invite more Mega Projects in Punjab which will bring more investment and employment opportunities."

"The Punjab Purchase of FAR has also been introduced in multiplexes on payment basis, along with Transferable Development Right to boost investment opportunities, for which the requisite terms and conditions of purchase of FAR have also been clearly defined in the amended bylaws," the statement said.

Further, the builders can build more flats leading to better return in their investment, which will not only attract more investments in Urban Punjab but also improve the financial condition of Urban Local Bodies while checking unauthorised constructions in such projects.

"In order to encourage planned development and investment in urban Punjab, the hotels, motels and guest houses have also been incorporated in the amended bylaws," the statement added.