Sixteen years ago a mass 'Save Goa' movement under the aegis of the 'Goa Bachao Abhiyan' scalped the then Town and Country Planning Minister Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate and junked the 'Regional Plan 2011' piloted by him and seen as painting the map of Goa from green to red. Today, the State is seemingly staring at a somewhat similar situation. At the steering wheel, TCP minister Vishwajit Rane has proposed sweeping changes (sixteen) in the Goa (Regulation of Land Development and Building Construction) Act, 2008. They propose statutes that will permit golf courses, farmhouses, film cities in hitherto no-development zones, and higher buildings for hotels, hospitals and educational institutions. The Goan delves into these proposes changes which are driving people to gear up for another State-wide agitation.
Business district with 3x FAR
The first change proposed in a set of several is a new provision for setting up a 'Special Commercial District' where FARs were earlier 2.5% have been increased by three times to 7.5%.
This increase in FAR by three times, say domain experts, will change skylines in Goa's cities drastically.
In the past, similar commercial areas with enhanced FARs were permitted in the capital city of Panaji at the EDC Patto-Plazza and some stand alone individual projects in Miramar.
Also in Margao, way back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a truncated version of setting up a 'commercial district' had been followed where projects were permitted higher FARs around the SGPDA market near the KTC bus-stand.
This provision being proposed to be added now to permit 'Special Commercial District' if accepted will become a norm and could potentially be followed in all cities and towns when Outline Development Plans (ODPs) are re-drawn.
It is pertinent to note that the government had recently amended the principal Town and Country Planning Act, to enable the department to draw up ODPs even in towns and villages outside the jurisdictions of the three Planning and Development Authorities -- NGPDA, SGPDA and the Mormugao PDA.
Golf courses
Another tweak of the laws which has raised concern are the additional provisions that are sought to be introduced to permit projects such as golf courses, film studios and cities, residential schools, open air religious and sports facilities.
"Golf course shall be permitted provided that the plot has a minimum area of 4,00,000 square metres, the maximum coverage and FAR of building permissible shall be 30% and 30% respectively" states the provision sought to be introduced to permit golf courses in the State.
The debate over setting up of golf courses in Goa goes back to the 1990s but governments then had pushed the issue to the back-burner and had only permitted mini golf-courses within the private holdings of starred hotels.
During the last decade, however, one major project to set up one in Tiracol rekindled the debate and yet the State government went ahead by giving its nod. The project, however, did not see the light of day as the group developing it suffered financial setbacks, abandoning the whole project halfway.
The proposal to introduce a provision in the statutes, for giving clearances to golf courses as a matter of policy, is therefore at the top of the agenda of those gearing up to oppose the amendments.
Film cities, studios
More than the golf courses, what has left those opposing the changes, is the provision that opens the floodgates for setting up film cities and studios in hitherto non-settlement zones.
The provision seeks to permit film cities in agriculture and orchard lands, except tenanted agricultural land, khazans, water bodies, flood-prone areas and along slopes with more than 25% gradient.
For a film city, the new provision sought to be inserted stipulates that the plot where it is being proposed, should have a minimum area of 4-lakh square metres. The proponents will be permitted a maximum coverage of 30% with an FAR for buildings of again 30%.
Similarly, for film studios, the plot where it is being proposed will have to be of a minimum area of one-lakh square metres and the proponents will be permitted a maximum coverage of 30% with an FAR for buildings of 30%.
Agriculture institutes, biotech units
Meanwhile, another sub-set of constructions which are being proposed to be permitted in hitherto non-settlement zones are agriculture research or development centres, agriculture educational institutes and biotechnology units.
Parties proposing such projects, according to the provision being sought to be inserted, will need to have a minimum plot of 2-lakh square metres. They will be permitted construction coverage of a maximum of 5% with an identical FAR of 5% but the height of the building has to be restricted to 7.6 metres.
Sports, religious structures
Open air sports or religious structures are also being given the leeway of constructing in non-settlement zones. The provision being inserted in the building regulation to permit these states that they shall be permitted provided that the plot has minimum area of 20,000 square metres. Construction coverage will be permitted in a maximum of 5% of the area and they will be permitted FAR of 5%. The height restriction for the building will be 7.60m.
Residential schools, yoga centres
Residential schools, yoga or meditation centres are yet another set of buildings that are being permitted by insertion of a provision which states that proponents with a minimum plot size of 2-lakh square metres will be permitted to construct structures covering a surface are of a maximum of 20 per-cent of the total plot. The FAR permitted with be 20 per-cent.
For yoga or meditation centres, the plot size will have to be a minimum of 1-lakh square metres and maximum coverage will be 20% with FAR for the building of 20%.
Farm houses
Introducing the concept of farm houses, another provision being inserted in the building regulations says farm houses shall be permitted in Agriculture zones provided these are not classified as “Rice” (Paddy field) in the survey records or as “Forest” under the Forest Act.
But in elevated lands recorded as 'rice' or 'paddy field' in the survey records, farm houses will be permitted, provided the minimum area of such land is not less than 10,000 square metres. The maximum coverage however is being restricted to 2.5 per-cent and the maximum built up area cannot exceed 500 square metres with a maximum height of 7.6 metres from the ground level to the eaves of the roof.
Additional FAR for hotels
Existing starred hotels -- 3-start, 4-star and 5-star -- are in for a bonanza. A new provision proposes to allow these existing hotels additional 30% FAR.
The opponents argue that this additional FAR is bound to contribute to the already congested coastal areas that these starred hotels dot. Even if it may not occupy additional free ground space, the extra FAR will contribute to the congestion with road accesses remaining the same, they argue.
Hospitals, medical institutions
The provision for the special Commercial Business District, which are to be demarcated in ODPs, has a supporting clause which permits higher FARs than the permissible 200% for hospitals and medical institutions with a minimum of 200 beds. They will be permitted 20% additional FAR.
Open spaces
Another amendment permits the use of open spaces for recreational and community purposes of occupants of the sub-divided plots, including for public utilities, but covering up to a maximum of 10% of each open space.
Facilities like garbage disposal area, installation of transformer and such other will be permitted in this 10% area of the open space.
Regularisation of structures
The most controversial of the amendments is the one that proposes to give the TCP department or the PDAs powers to regularise unauthorized constructions greater than 500 square metres built-up area.
According to the provision, structures built before December 31, 2020, and which comply with regulations including these new ones being proposed, are eligible to apply for regularisation.
The compliance with the cut-off date can be proved with documents such as water bill, power bill, tax receipts or other evidences, according to the section proposed to be introduced.
The regularisation will come with a price -- a compounding fee which is six times the normal licence fee.
