Notifications to fast track urban construction approvals soon

Aiming to ensure time-bound, hassle-free clearances, the government today decided to come out with the necessary notifications by the end of next month for streamlining approvals for urban construction projects.
The decision in this regard was taken today at a high- level meeting convened by Urban Development and Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu, a senior UD Ministry official said.
The meeting was attended by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma and Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha, besides the secretaries and senior officials of eight related ministries.
The ministers and the Cabinet Secretary reviewed the progress made by the respective ministries towards enhancing ease of doing business in urban areas since inter-ministerial consultations in this regard were initiated by Naidu a few months back, the UD Ministry official added.

Secretaries and senior officials of the Ministries of Defence, Environment and Forests and Climate Change, Civil Aviation, Culture, Consumer Affairs, Urban Development and Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation have given detailed accounts of measures taken so far and proposed to be taken in this connection.
Naidu said the country is ranked low in terms of ease of doing business in urban areas and it is imperative to improve the same in the context of efforts to achieve a sustained high rate of economic growth and other initiatives like Housing for All.

Parrikar suggested the adoption of a practical and realistic approach to fast track approvals for projects.

The Cabinet Secretary said that streamlining of approvals needs to be taken seriously to end cost and time over runs and harassment of project developers.
Sinha suggested that the Environment ministry consider incentivising compliance with the guidelines.
He noted that official notifications in respect of agreed- upon measures would go a long way towards improving India's rank on "ease of doing business".
A World Bank report yesterday ranked India at 130 out of 189 countries on the index of ease of doing business, up 12 places from the 142nd spot that the country occupied last year.