Town planning permissions and revenue plummet for GHMC

GHMC sees rise in high rise buildings despite decrease in building permissions and revenue in 2023-24.

The trend of building permissions sought from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the year 2023-24 indicates a general preference for high rises, which are increasingly becoming safer investment opportunity for many, rather than a housing option.

Despite the reduced number of building permissions issued and income generated thereof, the number of high rise buildings have only risen, especially in the residential sector.

The GHMC’s revenue from the Town Planning wing has come down by a quarter in 2023-24 due to fewer number of building permissions issued in the year.

At ₹1107 crore, the yield from the building permission fee is only three fourths of the revenue raked in during the previous financial year, at ₹1,455 crore. It is lower than even the revenue from the financial year 2021-22, when the civic body garnered ₹1,144 crore.

The total number of building permissions issued has plummeted from 13,748 in 2022-23 to 11,074 in 2023-24.

While this denotes the downward trend in the construction activity in the city in general, the number of high rises have only increased, which shows home buyers’ preference for the group housing.

The highest structure accorded permission during the year was a residential project with 51 floors, at Kancha Gachibowli, with a height of 188.6 meters, informed the authorities of the GHMC.