Response to the recent enhancement of transferable development rights (TDR), in lieu of surrendered property for development, has been lukewarm in the State capital six months after the orders were issued.
There have been only about 40 to 45 cases where property acquisition was done by issuing TDR instead of monetary compensation, GHMC officials said.
Among these, 10 were issued in Deeptisri Nagar for widening the storm-water drain to avoid flooding, while five were issued for those owning patta land inside the Full Tank Level of three lakes, namely, Sunnam Cheruvu, Malkam Cheruvu and Ramanthapur Cheruvu.
The remaining were opted for by a few people losing properties to widening of nalas and roads, Chief City Planner S. Devender Reddy said.
Mr. Reddy is, however, optimistic about the trend of opting for TDR instead of monetary compensation, and says it is slowly picking up.
“During the 10-year period before the rights were enhanced, there had been only 100-150 instances of people opting for TDR. Now, more people are showing interest,” he says.
Transferable Development Rights are nothing but relaxation of permissible built-up area in lieu of surrendering land free of cost for public purpose. The rights may be sold or disposed of or utilised elsewhere. Like shares, they may be part-sold and part-retained, or sold to different buyers.
The State government issued orders in January enhancing the TDR to additional built-up area equivalent to 400% of the plot surrendered, from the earlier 250%.
For conservation and development of lakes, water bodies, nalas and for recreational buffer development with greenery, the rights were enhanced from 100% to 200%.
For heritage buildings and heritage precincts maintained with adaptive reuse, the rights will be 100% of such site surrendered.
Earlier, the additional floors that could be constructed over normal permissible limit were limited to one floor. Through fresh amendments, it has been raised to two floors.
The government intended to circumvent payment of hefty compensation as per the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, by enhancing the TDR.
Mr. Reddy says the TDR are most profitable where the land price is low and the built-up area costs much higher. Awareness of the benefits of opting for TDR is yet to sink in, he says.
Popular perception is that additional setback spaces in line with the width of the widened road will not leave much room for anticipation in terms of total built-up space.
However, officials assure that the permissible built-up area against the surrendered plot is always higher than the original built-up area before the surrender.