Building norms relaxed for Junta House, govt quarters in St Inez

Panaji: The state cabinet on Tuesday approved relaxations to National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) (India) Ltd for the proposed redevelopment of govt quarters at St Inez for commercial use beyond 50% of the covered area. Similarly, for the redevelopment of Junta House, it permitted a stilt height of 6.6m to provide mandatory parking through a three-level puzzle parking system.

Govt has entrusted NBCC with the redevelopment or construction of seven projects in the state. The corporation had sought relaxation under the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations, 2010, for two projects — redevelopment of Junta House and redevelopment of govt quarters at St Inez. The proposals were reviewed by the North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA), which identified deviations from the regulations.

For the Junta House project, the NGPDA noted that the site is in commercial zone C-1, where a stilt height of only 2.85m is allowed for height calculation under Clause 126(a)(i) of the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations. NBCC has proposed a stilt height of 6.6m to fit a three-level puzzle parking system due to site constraints and design needs. This pushes the total building height to about 3.7m above the permissible 40m limit.

With regard to the minimum open area requirement for the project, the NGPDA said the proposal does not meet Clause 12.4(b) of the regulations, which requires at least 500sqm of open space in one contiguous parcel if open spaces are split. The proposed design provides two separate open spaces of 432sqm and 326sqm, totalling 758sqm, or 17.63% of the plot area. This is above the minimum total requirement of 645sqm, or 15%, but a single 500sqm open space is not feasible because of the plot’s shape and layout.

Where the redevelopment of govt quarters at St Inez across two plots of land is concerned, NGPDA had earlier approved an additional floor-area ratio (FAR) of 200 over the base FAR of 100, and a building height of up to 28m over the base permissible height of 15m, after govt approval, based on recommendations from the TCP board. The current permissible FAR is 300, and the permissible height is 28m. NBCC has now proposed raising the building height further to 40m.

NGPDA had also noted that both the land parcels lay in settlement zone S-1, where commercial use is limited to 50% of the covered area under clause 6A.3.1(i) of the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations. This would cut the built-up area from the sanctioned 1,460sqm to 1,040sqm, leading to an estimated revenue loss of about Rs 7.2 crore for plot 1 and about Rs 15 crore for plot 2. To optimise land use and make the project financially viable, cabinet approved relaxation in commercial use beyond 50% of covered area across both plots.