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Gurgaon developers advocate for restoring the stilt plus four floors policy

By Rishabh Chamoli | 2023-04-24

Developers in Gurgaon are urging to revive the stilt plus four floors policy. The Gurgaon Home Developers Association members argue that infrastructure improvements, and violation checks are better solutions than a blanket ban on constructing fourth floors.

The Gurgaon Home Developers Association has advocated upgrading the citys infrastructure and restoring the stilt plus four floors policy. In a meeting with P Raghavendra, the chairman of the expert committee set up to look into the stilt plus floor issue, the developers argued that with a high demand for residential floors in the city, it is crucial to establish building criteria, environmental concerns, and other factors associated with fourth floors.

Need for establishing norms and monitoring violations
The developers stressed the need for buildings with four floors in Gurgaon. They suggested that the committee should set norms, improve infrastructure, and develop means to monitor violations rather than outlawing such structures. According to a report provided by the members, External Development Charges (EDC) were set in 2019 when registration of the fourth floor as an independent dwelling unit was allowed. Since then, the government has earned almost Rs 1,000 crore from these fees.

Associations president weighs in
Narender Yadav, the associations president, highlighted that property owners pay a fee for Floor Ratio (FAR) and EDC costs to the government for permission to develop the fourth floor. Additionally, since 2009, an extra one percent of stamp duty has been imposed for infrastructure improvement. Furthermore, huge sums are collected in the form of external development fees not used to build infrastructure or facilities.

State government to keep the policy in place
On February 22, 2023, the State government agreed to maintain the much debated policy that allows the construction of the fourth floor in licensed colonies and HSVP sectors.

The Department of Town and Rural Planning has extended the deadline to comment on the fourth floor issue by one week, with a new deadline of April 13, 2023. In addition, the district town planners office has issued a directive in this respect.