The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Ban on construction along ECR lifted

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Friday, Mar 30, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Ban on construction along ECR lifted

A. Srivathsan

Only buildings with ground and first floors to be permitted

WILL BE EASIER: The East Coast Road, south of Tiruvanmiyur, could see more buildings thanks to the lifting of ban on construction.

CHENNAI : The ban on construction along the East Coast Road (ECR), south of Thiruvanmiyur, has been lifted.

The government order of March 13, issued by the Department for Housing and Urban Development, now allows for construction along the ECR from Thiruvanmiyur to Uthandi. Only residential buildings having not more than ground and first floor will be permitted in this notified area.

The order has listed about 11 conditions to accompany this change and urged the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) to evolve special development control rules to regulate this growth. Some of the conditions contemplated are large plot sizes, and an FSI of under one.

The ground cover or the size of the building footprint will be less than 50 per cent of the plot area and wider road width.

However, the coastal regulation norms will remain unchanged. Constructions hitherto were permitted only in the layouts approved. But now, with this government order, construction will be permitted even in other areas.

This order has raised a host of issues. First, the earlier Master Plan classified this area for mixed use, commercial, light industrial and residential.

On the other hand, this order seeks to reclassify it only for primary residential use.

Any amendment to the existing Master Plan has to follow the procedure already outlined in the law. This government order has made it complicated.

The Hindu gathers that the proposed second Master plan contains similar changes but with more development controls.

In this context, this order sidesteps the Master Plan proposal that has been sent for government approval and in the process, raises a host of legal issues.

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