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India Takes Longer To Issue Constructions Permits Than Developed Nations

India Takes Longer To Issue Constructions Permits Than Developed Nations

India Takes Longer To Issue Constructions Permits Than Developed Nations
(Wikimedia)

Before Niranjan Hiranandani, the co-founder and managing director of Hiranandani Group, built a township in Powai nobody believed that people would want to live in a remote suburb without proper roads. Today, Powai is one of the best neighbourhoods to live in Mumbai. It takes absolute confidence in oneself to see things nobody else has seen. It takes great courage to risk one's fortune on creating what people think to be impossible.

Even though developers have a bad press, they transform the skyline of cities in ways others could not have imagined. The media does not consider developers in the same league as of thinkers, scientists and artists. But, in important ways, they epitomise the vision projected in Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead:

"Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received — hatred. The great creators — the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors — stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won.”

Along with varied opinions, stringent regulations also impact the projects adversely, thus, causing delays. According to the World Bank, among 189 countries, India's rank in issuing construction permits is 184. On average, it takes 27 procedures and 186 days to get a construction permit. This costs nearly 28 per cent of the cost of the project. In Hong Kong, it takes only five procedures, 66 days, and 0.4 per cent of the cost. This means that in India, when compared to Hong Kong it takes over five times as many procedures, three times as much time, and 70 times as much money to get a construction permit.

This is not just inefficient but also unfair. It is sad if developers like Niranjan Hiranandani have to spend money, time and resources convincing government bureaucrats of the merits of the projects, when convincing home buyers, companies and investors are challenges in themselves.

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Last Updated: Tue May 31 2016

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