TDR to facilitate civic infrastructure

TDR to facilitate civic infrastructure
It is good for property owners as they will not lose in the event their property is acquired
The TImes of India

Transfer of development rights (TDR) and floorarea ratio (FAR) are quite commonly used in the housing industry. TDR envisages permitting an additional FAR to owners of land acquired for road widening and other such purposes. FAR expresses the relationship between the amount of useable floor area permitted in a building and the area of the land on which the building stands. It is obtained by dividing the gross floor area of a building by the total area of the land. FAR is usually expressed as a decimal fraction (for example, 0.5 or 12.3).
With TDR, the city corporations are empowered to relax building bye-laws to benefit property owners. In case an owner gives up his vacant land voluntarily, instead of compensation he will be given an additional FAR that will be certain number of times the size of the plot. FAR can be used either by the owner to extend his building or can be traded for a price. A Development Rights Certificate (DRC) will be issued to the property owner. This, in turn, will be a legal document for the owner to trade. According to the TDR, authorities can consider relaxing setbacks and coverage area. This applies to land surrendered free of cost for road widening. However, no such relaxation is given to an area needed for parking. Implementation of TDR makes the task of land acquisition easy.
Here is an example of how a property owner will benefit if he surrenders 100 square metres of land from a plot area of 500 square metres, assuming a FAR of 1.5:
Floor area allowed: 500 x 1.5 = 750 square metres
Area surrendered: 100 square metres
Additional floor area in the form of development rights: 150 square metres
Plot area after surrender:
500 minus 100 square metres = 400 square metres
Floor area allowed in plot of 400 square metres (after surrender): If additional FAR is not used in same plot, 750 square metres; if used in the same plot, 750 plus 150, i.e. 900 square metres.
After surrendering the required land, if the remaining portion is found to be too small for any construction, the owner can give up the entire property to the government in lieu of DRC
The government can also reject or cancel the DRC on certain grounds - where dues have to be paid by the owner to the government, where DRC is obtained by fraudulent means, and where there is a dispute on the land's title.
The DRC must also have details about the land, i.e., from where development rights have been generated and land use zone. The authority will publish an annual programme for road widening, construction of a road or for any other public purpose for granting TDR. DRC will be issued only after the required land is surrendered to the authority free of cost and free of encumbrances. DRC will be valid for five years. It can be renewed for a further period of five years after paying a fee. It is invalid for receivable plots in notified areas.