PANJIM: The Town and Country Planning (TCP) steering committee gave its nod for the grant of additional floor area ratio (FAR) of 20 percent to four and five star hotels and educational institutions at a meeting on Thursday. However, hotels in the areas of eco-tourism and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) cannot avail of this.
The committee, headed by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar also gave its approval for permitting structures on agricultural, cultivable and orchard lands for the purpose of ‘promoting agricultural activities’ as well as making changes in the regulations in the construction in certain areas pertaining to the SC/ST community. The steering committee approved granting relaxation for construction, re-construction or repair of houses belonging to tribal people under the Atal Asra Yojna, for welfare of tribals in the State.
The draft proposal calling for suggestions and recommendations in regards to the amendment was issued in January, this year. The file will now go to the government for approval following procedures and a final notification is likely to be issued by the end of this month.
Chief Town Planner S T Putturaju confirmed that the steering committee has approved its draft regulations made under sub-section (1) and (2) of the Goa (Regulation of Land Development and Building Construction) Act, 2008.
Regulation 6A of the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulation has been amended to grant an additional FAR of 20 percent to four and five star hotels. This will be applicable to any existing hotel or hotel under construction or new proposals of four or five star hotels.
“However, hotels in eco-tourism and CRZ areas are exempted from this amendment. We have no authority to take any decision in regards to such hotels. They are governed by different rules and regulations,” Putturaju said.
The amendment also provides an additional FAR of 20 percent to educational institutions recognized by the education department, oa University, University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Institute of Technical Education.
“The educational institutions in Goa are mainly run by private managements. The cost of land and related building infrastructure is making it financially prohibitive for future expansion and new construction. Hence government has decided to grant special dispensation to institutions by way of further increasing FAR,” the Budget 2015-16 document had said.
