CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has raised the infrastructure and amenities charges by 50 per cent, according to a Government Order issued recently.The order was passed on March 28 after the proposal was submitted to the government nearly two months ago to increase the infrastructure and amenities charges by 50 per cent of the present prevailing areas in commissionerate of town and country planning areas, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and Chennai Metropolitan Area.The new rates in CMDA and Chennai Metropolitan area include `750 for multi-storied building, which includes commercial or information technology or industrial or institutional or combination of such activities. The earlier rate was `500. Similarly, the charges for multi-storeyed residential buildings and buildings other than multistoreyed has been hiked by another `125 from the earlier `250. Even institutional and industrial buildings in the State have to pay an additional `50 and `75 respectively from the earlier charges of `100 and `150.The revised rates would boost the revenue of the state by `500 crore, according to sources. The GO has also done away with minimum and maximum rates specified in Rule 4 of Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning (Levy of Infrastructure and Amenities Charges) Rules, 2008.Justifying the hike, the GO stated that as the state is witnessing a huge phenomenon of urban development, the gap between the supply and demand in urban infrastructure is increasing every year and to meet this demand, it is necessary that the users of these services contribute to the creation of infrastructure assetsInterestingly, it was in 2007, when the government ordered that the infrastructure and amenities charges not be above `500 per square metre for commercial and information technology buildings, `1,000 per square metre for multi-storeyed buildings, `200 per square metre for institutions and `300 for industrial use.It also brought in Rule 4 of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning (Levy of Infrastructure and Amenities Charges) Rules, 2008 fixing a minimum rate of `500 per square metre and maximum rate of `1,000 per square metre for multi-storeyed building accommodating residential and commercial or information technology or industrial or institutional buildings besides a minimum of `250 per square metre and a maximum of `500 for commercial building, IT building, group development and special building.Surprisingly, the collection of the cess in three instalments of 50 per cent, 25 per cent and 25 per cent was opposed by the CREDAI following a slump in the construction industry. As a result, in 2009, it was waived with the charges to be paid in a lump sum before the issue of planning permission.
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