View of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation head office
| Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL
The trend of building permissions sought from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the year 2023-24 indicates a general preference for high rises, which are increasingly becoming safer investment opportunity for many, rather than a housing option.
Despite the reduced number of building permissions issued and income generated thereof, the number of high rise buildings have only risen, especially in the residential sector.
The GHMC’s revenue from the Town Planning wing has come down by a quarter in 2023-24 due to fewer number of building permissions issued in the year.
At ₹1107 crore, the yield from the building permission fee is only three fourths of the revenue raked in during the previous financial year, at ₹1,455 crore. It is lower than even the revenue from the financial year 2021-22, when the civic body garnered ₹1,144 crore.
The total number of building permissions issued has plummeted from 13,748 in 2022-23 to 11,074 in 2023-24.
While this denotes the downward trend in the construction activity in the city in general, the number of high rises have only increased, which shows home buyers’ preference for the group housing.
The highest structure accorded permission during the year was a residential project with 51 floors, at Kancha Gachibowli, with a height of 188.6 meters, informed the authorities of the GHMC.
The high rise buildings, which are defined as buildings above 18 meters in height, have increased by more than a third when compared with last year. While the year 2022-23 recorded 97 high rises against the 83 in the previous year, the bygone financial year has seen building permissions issued to a total 130 high rise buildings. Of these, a majority of 74 are residential structures, while 44 are commercial and 12, institutional.
In comparison, the number of permissions issued for instant registrations, accorded to residential buildings in less than 75 square yards of plot size, and of instant approvals, given for buildings with plot sizes between 75 and 600 square yards, both have come down.
All these permissions are applied for online through Telangana State Building Permission Approval and Self-Certification System (TS-bPASS).
Against 707 approvals accorded through instant registration in 2022-23, the year 2023-24 has seen only 496 in the category. The instant approvals too have come down from 10,476 the previous year to 8,122 in 2023-24, registering a 22% decline.
Permissions issued through single window, for all structures in over 600 square yards of plot size, amounted to 2,456, which are marginally higher than 2,368 permissions issued in 2022-23.
