Developers who had their integrated township plans ready will now have to rework them in order to get the approval from the concerned authority.

The fresh draft of the policy, which has dropped the word “integrated” from it, has provisions that will affect the township projects in a big way.

“The integrated township includes hospitals, schools, offices and huge commercial establishments, while residential township has residential development with minimal shopping spaces. It doesn’t have huge commercial establishments,” said Jaxay Shah, the president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, Gujarat.

In 2007, the government had announced the Gujarat Integrated Township Policy at the Vibrant Gujarat Urban Summit in Ahmedabad with investment proposals worth Rs 1.08 lakh crore at the summit. Two years have passed since then, but the government has now decided to come up with a fresh policy.

Some of the major players such as Sahara City Homes, which has already got the approval for a 104-acre township near Bopal as per sources, will have to resubmit its plan for permission.

“We have registered the township as a proposed housing scheme, which the Government of Gujarat has approved. We don’t come under township norms.”

Another soon-to-be-launched project to go through this process once again is a 250-acre township on the S G Highway by Godrej Properties.

Some of the important provisions made in the new policy include 10 per cent reservation in dwellings for the economically weaker sections in residential townships and special preference to registered co-operative societies of small and marginal farmers for housing in such townships.

... contd.