In a bid to accelerate urban development and strengthen its ‘ease of doing business’ credentials, the Andhra Pradesh government has rolled out a 72-hour clearance policy for high-rise building permissions.
The new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), unveiled by Principal Secretary for Municipal Administration and Urban Development S. Suresh Kumar, on Friday (August 08), mandates that all eligible high-rise building proposals, defined as structures with 12 or more floors, including Transferable Development Rights (TDR) floors, be approved within a strict Service Level Agreement (SLA) of three days.
The initiative, framed to eliminate bureaucratic delays, is aimed at attracting greater investment and ensuring rapid, transparent clearances, he added. It follows a review of past shortcomings in approval mechanisms, with the Director of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) tasked to propose a more efficient process, which has now been approved by the government.
Under the SOP, a special cell has been set up at the DTCP office in Mangalagiri to exclusively handle high-rise applications. Once a proposal is submitted, an automated intimation will be sent to the DTCP, the relevant commissioner or vice-chairperson, and the Town Planning Section head in the concerned urban local body (ULB) or development authority.
