The government aims to finalise benchmarks for streamlining construction approvals and institute single window clearance soon.

“The final meeting in this regard will take place on October 28. A lot of progress has been made. We expect to reach a final understanding and create benchmarks with respect to what will be cleared at municipality or State level,” Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told BusinessLine .

The Ministries of Civil Aviation, Environment & Forests and Climate Change, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Civil Aviation, Culture, Defence, and Consumer Affairs will participate in the deliberations.

“Practically, the approach we are taking is that there should be no need to come to the Centre (for approvals),” Naidu added. Necessary notifications are expected to be issued by the end of this year to enable urban local bodies accord approvals in a specified time period. At present 30-50 approvals are needed from central and state governments resulting in an average approval time of 90 – 600 days for construction projects.

According to World Bank data on ease of doing business in 2015, India ranks 142 out of 189 economies. Under the subhead of ‘Dealing with construction permits’, it ranks 184 out of 189 economies. The government aims to ensure all approvals within 30 days from the date of application formed the basis of discussion.

“The idea is to make urban local bodies responsible for clearing or disposing most applications seeking approvals,” another official from the Ministry of Urban Development said, adding that after guidelines are finalised, the Centre will deliberate with States to make sure urban local basis have the strength and capacity to handle most clearances.

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