Online building approvals in all cities by March 2022

New Delhi: The online building permission system will be implemented across all cities by March next year from about 2,500 cities currently to facilitate ease of doing business in the real estate sector, Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said on Thursday.

Addressing a real estate conference organised by CII and JLL India, the secretary also highlighted that the government has already sanctioned 1.14 crore homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) to achieve 'housing for all' in the country.

"At present, online building permission system has been made operational in around 2,500 cities," he said, adding that this has resulted in reduction in compliance cost and time. "I am confident that by March next year, we will implement this system in all cities," he said.

The online system has been fully implemented in 19 states and Union Territories (UTs) and will soon be operationalised across all 36 states and UTs. On the PMAY-U scheme, Mishra said the government has sanctioned 1.14 crore houses so far and works have started on 89 lakh homes. He said around 52 lakh homes have already been completed. "We have committed Rs 1.85 lakh crore for this scheme and out of that Rs 1.13 lakh crore has been already provided," he said. The works on the remaining homes under this scheme will be completed in the next two years.