Developers keen on buying TDRs

Developers keen on buying TDRs
The Times of India

Bangalore: The Karnataka Ownership Apartments Promoters’ Association has said that Bangalore developers are keen on buying TDRs (Transfer of Development Rights) from property owners along major roads in the city.
The association’s new president A Balakrishna Hegde said TDR can be an effective instrument to acquire land for widening roads. “But the response to TDRs in Bangalore has so far been limited because property owners are not clear how they can benefit from it. So we plan to undertake a serious move to popularise TDRs among property owners,” he said.
TDR essentially means making available a certain amount of additional built up area in lieu of the area surrendered by the owner of the land, which would enable the owner to use the extra builtup area for himself or transfer it to someone else in need of the extra built-up area for an agreed sum of money. Experts say TDRs have worked well in cities like Mumbai and Hyderabad. TDRs help to ensure that city corporations do not have to spend money on land acquisition.
The BMP is keen to broaden several roads — including Hosur Road and city centre roads like Palace Road — through the TDR mechanism. But progress so far has been slow. Hegde, however, cautioned that TDRs should not be allowed to be used to regularise buildings with violations.
He also said that the rule that restricts buildings with less than six floors to have no more than one level of parking be removed. “If this is done, we can create more parking space,” he said.