Realty boom makes civic body richer

Hyderabad: The GHMC’s town planning department has become one of the major sources of revenue. In 2014-15, the department alone received Rs 526.27 crore.

This is an increase of about Rs 26 crore and is being seen as an indication of growth in building activities in the city.

The department deals with building permit fees, development charges, betterment charges, and impact fees. According to records, the number of building permissions and the applications received from June last year to March 31, 2015, was 7,816. In March alone, 1,141 applications were received and about Rs 120 crore collected.

Some of the major building coming up in the twin cities are multiplexes at Panjagutta and Madhapur by L&T, Data Centre building of the State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda at Gachibowli, campus of the National Institute of Animal Biodiversity Gopannapally, a seven-star hotel at Raidurg, Knowledge City, corporate office of Novartis at Gachibowli among others. Others that are coming up are Asian Institute of Gastroenterology Hospital at Gachibowli and the central training institute and staff quarters of IDBI.