Against the backdrop of several initiatives taken over the last one year for improving the ease of obtaining construction permits in Delhi and Mumbai, the Narendra Modi Government has strongly staked its claim for an upgraded ranking in the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index.
In the ‘Ease Of Doing Business’ rankings for Construction Permits for 2017 announced last year by the World Bank, India was ranked 185 among the 190 countries surveyed.
Rankings for 2018 are likely to be announced in November this year. World Bank ranking of India is based on the average of scores for Delhi and Mumbai.
With regard to Delhi, a visiting World Bank team was on Saturday informed by the Centre that a timeframe of 30 days has been stipulated for granting construction permits, 7 days for Plinth Inspection certificate and 22 days for Occupancy and Completion certificate, beyond which approvals are deemed to have been accorded.
According to sources, World Bank team will hold discussions in respect of Mumbai on July 4. They will also take feedback from architects and other stakeholders before assigning ranks. Improvements like in Delhi have been made in case of Mumbai too.
Sources said that given the substantial improvements registered in respect of the four parameters considered by the Bank, India should score substantially high this year and it could be among the top 25 in this round of rankings.
Sources said that Urban Development Secretary told the World Bank team that all reforms relating to the reduction in the number of processes involved and time taken for approvals have been accorded statutory status by incorporating revised frameworks/timelines in the Building Bye-laws of Delhi and Mumbai.
Copies of said laws and relevant circulars issued have been presented to the bank team as evidence.
The world bank was informed that of the 3,397 building plans received for approval online during April 8, 2016 till June 14, 2017, 539 were cleared in just one day and 1,817 in seven days and deemed approvals were accorded in 74 cases.