CHENNAI: Availing building planning permissions will not be a time-consuming exercise anymore as the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has decided to revamp the online planning permission portal to cut the time taken by half from the present 30-60 days.

As per the proposal, the CMDA would provide the planning permission within 30 days. The aim was to “re-engineer the existing workflow and make it simpler, thereby decreasing the time taken for issuing planning permission from 60 days to 30 days and also increasing the number of planning permissions issued," said the CMDA policy note tabled in the Assembly.

Earlier, about 65 planning permissions were issued a year under the high-rise building (HRB) category. After the introduction of the Online Planning Permission system in 2022, this has risen two-fold to 135 applications last year, it said. "In particular, planning permission has been issued for more than 100 high-rise building applications, which is an unprecedented number," it said.

The numbers have gone up in the case of non-high-rise buildings (NHRB), too. In 2022, the planning authority received 641 applications, and issued 455 planning permissions issued. In 2023, as many as 837 applications were received, of which 605 were given planning permission.

In May 2022, the authority launched the comprehensive web portal "Web Enabled Single Window System for Online Submission, Processing and Disposal of Planning Permission Application", which integrated 19 no-objection certificates from PWD, CMRL, WRD, TNHB, etc.

The system is also integrated with the portals of GCC, Commissionerate of Municipal Administration, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department and Directorate of Town Panchayats.