Govt allows splitting of environmental clearance for projects

“The concerned Regulatory Authority shall split and transfer the prior-Environmental Clearance, on recommendation of the concerned Expert Appraisal Committee to the other legal persons for the respective projects,” it adds.

Kishore Bhatija, Advisor, K Raheja Corp and Vice Chairman Naredco West, commented that it is an additional step towards ease of doing business. He explained, “earlier if a particular developer unable to carry thru a project, the entire Environment approval needed to be transferred to another developer but now with the revised notification the project can be transferred in parts eg if a project is large in size or has two different type of development then it can be transferred to two separate developers who can take over the components or the size they desire and execute the project” The said notification is applicable to all projects except quarrying. Government with this move has helped not only expedite projects but also restructure or realign as may be required. Bhatija added

“The government with this move has helped expedite public interest projects, further enabling restructuring of distressed business,” Bhatija added.

Hitesh Thakkar, a real estate developer and partner of Prem Group, said, “In a real estate development project, if a developer is changed, the new developer was required to reobtain the EC, eventually delaying the project timeline… Now that won’t be the case. The government has rightly understood that EC stands on the merits of the land and not to the person.”

The move will speed up projects that are stuck over obtaining duplicate EC approvals from the authority concerned, he added.