Permissions for skyscrapers rise, hint at public preference for gated communities in Hyderabad

Drastic reduction in single-window permissions and an increasing number of skyscrapers in the current financial year may speak for the shifting choices of city denizens for gated communities rather than standalone apartment complexes. The GHMC’s Town Planning wing has raked in a revenue of ₹1,455 crore for GHMC as against the ₹1144 crore in 2021-22.

Drastic reduction in single-window permissions and an increasing number of skyscrapers in the current financial year may speak for the shifting choices of city denizens for gated communities rather than standalone apartment complexes.

Permissions for high-rise towers, some of them vying to kiss the clouds, have increased in number during the previous year, even as the total building permissions in the city dropped when compared to last fiscal.

Nevertheless, the GHMC’s Town Planning wing has raked in a revenue of ₹1,455 crore for GHMC as against the ₹1144 crore in 2021-22.

As per information shared by the wing, four residential projects with over 40 floors have been given permission in 2022-23. Besides, a whopping 53 residential projects with over 30 metres height (constituting 10-40 floors) have been given approval.

Maximum building height permitted is 165 metres, constituting 50 floors this year, against 128 metres constituting 41 floors in the previous financial year.

A standard five-floor residential complex is estimated to be 15 metres tall, and anything above that is considered a high-rise structure. The total number of high-rises given permission this year stood at 97 against 83 in 2021-22. Of these, 70 are residential projects.

Drastic reduction in building permissions issued in the single-window system of TS-bPASS has dragged down the total number of permissions this time round. Against 17,572 permissions issued in 2021-22, those issued in 2022-23 stood at 13,748.