PANJIM: North Goa Planning and Development Authority on Wednesday resolved to hike fees for acquiring project completion certificates, wherein builders and hoteliers will have to pay per flat or hotel room, instead of the existing practice of single amount for the entire project.
The Authority also decided to charge fees for legal hill cutting and filling of low-lying areas that are allowed under the Town and Country Planning Act, based on the area.
The decisions were taken after NGPDA realized it is losing huge amount of revenue by charging a single fee of Rs 1000 for construction certificates.
“If a residential complex with 50 flats or a hotel with 100 rooms is coming up, we were charging only Rs 1000 for the entire project. This was a minimal fee charged by us,” NGPDA Chairman Michael Lobo told Herald after the meeting. “Hence, we have now decided to charge based on per flat or per hotel room,” he said.
As per the proposal, NGPDA intends to charge Rs 1000 for a single unit and Rs 500 per subsequent unit. For hotels, commercial and residential complexes, Rs 500 per room or flat or unit would be charged. “This will help us generate additional revenue of around Rs 50 lakh annually,” Lobo said.
Lobo said the Authority has decided to charge fees for hill cutting and filling of low-lying areas, activities that are permitted under section 17 (A) of the Town and Country Planning Act. “We used to never charge any fees. Following an order from TCP, we used to grant permission. But now we have decided to impose fees based on the total area,” he said.
