<b>Builders say fee to regularize unauthorized construction is too steep

Builders say fee to regularize unauthorized construction is too steep Tuesday, May 1, 2001

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government's latest ordinance legalizing unauthorized construction has left the builders and the flat owners, who say that the fee is too steep, bewildered.

Besides, it is not clear who will have to pay up, they say. The state government has promulgated the ordinance on regularization of structures built in contravention of the building bylaws.

The ordinance provides for getting unauthorized construction legalized by paying a penalty, termed as "impact fee." The ordinance also makes it mandatory for builders or owners to produce stability certificate for the building in view of the collapse of several high rises in the January 26 quake that killed about 25,000 people and left millions homeless.

The earlier ordinance on regularizing such structures had lapsed, as the state Assembly could not ratify it during the budget session. According to the ordinance, the impact fee to regularize such buildings in which floor-space index (FSI) has been violated will be Rs.700 to Rs.2,000.

Said Harnish Shah, a builder whose project is coming up in the Paldi area, "The new ordinance is similar to the old one. But the impact fee is too steep for the owners of the flats to pay. Normally middle class people live in flats in multistoried buildings. It is not proper on the part of the government to impose such a big financial burden on them."

Harshadbhai Patel, also a builder in the satellite area, said that the need for impact fee arose because the builders covered the balcony after the construction was completed. "Why not make it mandatory for the builders to show in the plan that balcony is covered," he suggested.

While the builders' association is organizing a meeting in the next couple of days to discuss the implications of the ordinance, owners of flats are at a loss. The prospect of paying huge fee looms large, though it is yet to be made clear as to who will pay the fee, the builders or the owners.

For margins and setbacks for residential premises, the impact fee is Rs.600 to Rs.1,200 a square meter, according to the ordinance. For covered projections of the buildings, the impact fee will be between Rs.400 and Rs.1,100 a square meter, the same as that for those who changed the use of buildings from residential to commercial. For the violation of height, the impact fee would range from Rs.600 to Rs.1200.

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