PUNE: The building permission department might not be as lucrative a segment for the civic body on the revenue front in the next financial year, after a record earnings of about Rs1,800 crore in the ongoing fiscal.
The commissioner’s budget reduced the revenue target of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) department substantially to Rs1,400 crore for the 2022-23 financial year. “The special scheme for discount in the premium floor space index (FSI) had boosted the income from building permissions. Many additional proposals had reached us for the availing benefits of it. This may not be the case in the next fiscal. So, I have scaled down its revenue target,” the Pune municipal commissioner, Vikram Kumar, said.
A source said the demand for the transfer of development rights (TDR) was down and the eagerness to use premium FSI was high this fiscal, after the state government gave a 50% discount to the premium FSI. Proposals submitted till December 31, 2021, were entitled for this benefit. Developers took advantage of it and tried to meet the deadline for submitting applications. The revenue of the department was as high as Rs400 crore in December 2021, said a civic official.
According to the civic data, on an average around 4,000 to 4,500 building permissions, including commercial and residential properties, are given each financial year. The permissions are given for housing societies, individual bungalows, shopping centres, business places, commercial complexes, malls and IT parks.
The building permission department’s revenue was less than Rs800 crore in four fiscals, preceding the ongoing financial year. In the pre-pandemic times, building permissions were given for new as well as redevelopment projects. Its demand increased after the Covid-induced restrictions were relaxed.
