The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) was passed in March 2016. According to the RERA Notification, the “development works” means the external development works and internal development works on immovable property. The “external development works” includes roads and road systems landscaping, water supply, sewage and drainage systems, electricity supply transformer, sub-station, solid waste management and disposal or any other work which may have to be executed in the periphery of, or outside, a project for its benefit, as may be provided under the local laws. The “internal development works” means roads, footpaths, water supply, sewers, drains, parks, tree planting, street lighting, provision for community buildings and for treatment and disposal of sewage and sullage water, solid waste management and disposal, water conservation, energy management, fire protection and fire safety requirements, social infrastructure such as educational health and other public amenities or any other work in a project for its benefit, as per sanctioned plans.
Further ,as per the RERA Notification , “project” means the real estate project and “real estate project” means the development of a building or a building consisting of apartments, or converting an existing building or a part thereof into apartments, or the development of land into plots or apartment, as the case may be, for the purpose of selling all or some of the said apartments or plots or building, as the case may be, and includes the common areas, the development works, all improvements and structures thereon, and all easement, rights and appurtenances belonging thereto.
The Draft RERA rules for Goa dated 22nd August 2017 are totally silent on the requirements for the external development works and internal development works and the approval/monitoring processes for these project works. Let me share my experiences to highlight the various requirements in this write-up.
The master planning for new urban development projects near Abu Dhabi with vast open undeveloped areas/deserts involved corridors (land widths) to plan the infrastructure/utilities networks adjacent to the road carriageway for storm water drainage, street lighting/LV, traffic signals, water supply (domestic & fire), telephone, trees/ irrigation, Electrical/HV, sewerage, chilled water, gas, solid waste & clearance/ trees. The type, location & sizing of utilities networks differ from project to project, depending on the required facilities and population demands. Such master planning concepts have also been adopted for new housing development projects with vast open /barren land near Kuala Lumpur.
The corridor planning is done before fixing the plot boundary for the lots/buildings. Many of the infrastructure/utilities networks of the residential, commercial & industrial development projects of the new urban township/s have to be connected to the main networks and structures/plants/stations to make them functional. Technical cells (with qualified staff and specialist consultants in various fields including utilities/roads) are established in the relevant departments for approval (or otherwise) of the utilities earthwork plans and monitoring of such infrastructure/utilities for the projects.
Sewerage & urban storm water drainage infrastructure networks/utilities are mainly gravity flow systems. These networks are planned based on actual ground levels. Any errors in the level surveys and identifying all existing services & other structures (both surface & underground) along the network alignment will cause enormous problems in the construction & operation of the sewerage & storm water drainage systems. Also, at road intersections /crossings, the sewerage & storm water drainage networks often hit each other and other utilities networks. This problem at road intersections/crossings to get the minimum required clearances (and avoid hitting) between all the utilities networks requires multi-disciplinary inputs/feedback. The rehabilitation of existing functional /non-functional systems with the new networks needs to carefully planned & implemented.
The local population is growing at a slow rate in villages of the tiny rural-urban State of Goa. Therefore, the village development plans of the existing villages of Goa should focus on providing quality & uninterrupted basic infrastructure and promote traditional waste disposal systems in an environmentally acceptable manner .The existing land widths in villages are adequate for basic services/utilities and road side open drains (wherever required) to prevent existing villages from flooding. Proper maintenance mechanism, the need to keep villages clean and protection of natural resources should take centre stage in the village development planning process.
Unwanted real estate development projects with unsustainable earthwork plans will destroy the peaceful existing village settlements of the local communities, the eco-sensitive areas and the existing earthwork plans of the villages. Such real estate development projects should be immediately rejected.
In case you need any clarification, please contact me on my e-mail ID: [email protected]
