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Housing & Urban Development (H&UD) department effected key amendments to Odisha Town Planning and Improvement Trust (Planning and Building Standards) Rules, 2021, and Odisha Development Authorities (Planning and Building Standards) Rules, 2020, to facilitate ‘ease of doing business’ and boost investment, a H&UD notification issued in this regard on Wednesday mentioned.
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These reforms bring key relief for standalone and flatted factories, specifically the MSME sector and IT/ITeS enterprises in the State. The notified amendments increase economic freedom and ease of doing business in Odisha.
Key amendments to town planning norms are:
The amendments remove the requirement of ground coverage, reduce parking and setbacks, and increase the base Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for factories and IT/ITes. As a result, plotted and flatted factories can achieve a footprint of over 70 percent, flatted factories can accommodate twice the number of units as before, and IT/ITeS enterprises can build more in a lesser number of floors.
To attract large-scale commercial development along wider roads, incentives have been provided in the form of relaxation in Floor Area Ratio (FAR). Specifically, the base FAR for commercial developments on roads with a width of 18 meters (60 feet) or more has been increased to promote large-scale commercial growth.
For all industrial buildings, restrictions on ground coverage and the requirement for purchasable FAR or TDR have been completely removed. Parking requirement for industrial buildings has been reduced to 8 percent from 30 percent to allow more industrial area to be constructed.
The Economic Survey 2024-25 had recommended that “Enhancing economic freedom for individuals and small businesses is arguably the most important policy priority to define and bolster India’s medium-term growth prospect.”
It also noted that land lost per factory in Odisha due to restrictive building norms was higher than in other states, and recommended suitable revisions. These steps are in line with the Economic Survey’s call for revising building norms to promote ease of doing business and reduce the cost of regulation, with a view to boost job creation and economic growth.
Chief Secretary highlights the reforms
In this regard, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja said, “Deregulation is an idea whose time has come. These regulatory reforms will promote ease of doing business, foster innovation, help embrace new technologies, and become a source of competitive advantage for Odisha.”
The Chief Secretary added that the State is focusing on bringing in a fundamental change in the relationship between the regulator and the regulated, with the State shifting from the role of regulator to being a facilitator.
H&UD Principal Secretary Usha Padhee stated that the Department recognises the need to adapt global best practices to local contexts and to engage stakeholders in participatory decision making to build trust and address resistance.
These amendments in building regulations will substantially reduce bureaucratic hurdles thus improving ease of doing business, and stimulating economic activity.
MSMEs are key beneficiaries of these reforms. The land lost to building standards has been reduced by 60 percent for MSMEs, creating greater opportunities for generating jobs and increasing growth.
With these reforms, Odisha emerged as a leader in industrial land optimisation, reducing compliance burdens while ensuring robust growth opportunities for the entrepreneurs, startups, and global investors.
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Notably, the reforms make Odisha a frontier state in the ease of setting up factories by enhancing the usability of industrial plots. The State is committed to initiating more such building reforms to ease operations for entrepreneurs and promote greater investment for ‘Bikashita Odisha’.
