Bhubaneswar, Feb. 22: Your neighbourhood developer will now have to make sure that he develops the infrastructure in and around the multi-storey complex he builds.

Real estate developers and builders take note. The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) will now permit a developer to build a multi-storey building complex only if he develops on-site and off-site infrastructure, such as connecting the complex sewerage, drainage and water supply with the main network, build an approach road and so on.

The BDA has also included in its new rules that the builder has to get a no objection certificate (NOC) from the civic authorities concerned before getting the occupancy certificate from BDA. The new rules are part of the proposed new building regulations of 2012 by the planning authority.

A source at the BDA said: “Earlier, the development authority was concerned with the plan approval, structural stability and the quality of materials used in the construction, but later it was found that builders were getting their plans approved without incorporating civic facilities such as drainage and sewerage. City planning suffered because of this.”

The NOC is supposed to be provided by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC). Only after getting the NOC can a developer apply for the building plan approval from the BDA. But in practice, most builders were flouting the rules, because of which the BMC was losing money. The municipal council had decided that a builder had to deposit 2 per cent of the project cost for peripheral development (building infrastructure around the project). The BDA has detected more than 100 major violations, in which the developer has applied for plan approval without getting an NOC.

“We hope that with the additional clause in the new building regulation by BDA, the developers constructing multi-storey structures will now be forced to apply for NOC from the municipal corporation,” said Amaresh Jena, a BMC councillor.

The Telegraph had published several reports about violation of NOC by real estate developers in the city. The report “Action time for BMC”, which had appeared in the November 30, 2011, issue of The Telegraph, dealt with a plan to penalise the builders by snapping power and water supply to buildings without the mandatory NOC. Another report on August 27 last year — “Crores slip through graft hole; builder, official nexus hits BMC” — exposed the BMC’s role.

The new building regulations will also include several points on houses for economically weaker sections (EWS) and lower income group (LIG) units. While 10 per cent of the area of the project should be earmarked for EWS/LIG categories, the developer will have the option of developing these housing units within a distance of 5km from the main project site.

There is also a proposal that real estate developers be given an option of depositing money for a “shelter fund” instead of building the EWS/LIG houses. This fund would later be used by the BDA to build EWS/LIG houses.

The BDA will soon upload the draft BDA (Planning and Building Standards) Regulation, 2012.

Planning member Prashant Kumar Patnaik said: “It will be on the BDA website by the weekend. We are also planning to get maximum response from the public and publish the notice in the print media.”