The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has added several high premium areas to its purview thanks to its recent expansion, but going forward, it may have to share income from these areas with the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA).
It is reliably learnt that a proposal has been approved by the State government for retaining part of the town planning services in the expanded GHMC area with HMDA.
In the last council meeting of the GHMC, corporator Sravan Vurapalli spoke in opposition of the proposal, and demanded that every paisa generated within GHMC’s purview should belong to the corporation.
The proposal, reportedly mooted by HMDA Commissioner Sarfaraz Ahmed, sought to retain HMDA as the sanctioning authority for structures with more than 10 floors in the entire expanded area of GHMC.
As a result, GHMC cannot expect town planning revenue from high value real estate hot spots such as Kokapet, Narsingi, Budvel, Tellapur, and several other localities, where skyscrapers with 40-60 floors are the norm. Even on the Eastern part of the city, high rise towers are on a rapid rise, exemplified by a 72-floor residential tower coming up in Ghatkesar.
With skyrocketing real estate prices, builders as well as home owners are leaning towards skyscrapers across the city, which works in favour of HMDA.
Before the expansion, GHMC power to sanction building permissions was vested with the municipalities or corporations only for structures up to 15 metres in height. HMDA was the sanctioning authority for multi-storeyed buildings that are more than 15 metres (five floors) high. In erstwhile GHMC area, the corporation was the sole authority for all building permissions.
However, the latest proposal transfers powers to sanction building permissions for structures with over 10 floors, even within the erstwhile GHMC purview, to HMDA.
Officials said the proposal was mooted with a view to sustain HMDA’s revenues, as all the newly developing clusters which earlier had been under various ULBs have come into GHMC’s fold with the recent merger.
“HMDA needs funds for several ongoing infrastructure projects. It will take some time before new growth areas develop outside the periphery of the expanded GHMC, yielding revenues for HMDA. Hence the need for this revenue sharing arrangement,” said an official under the condition of anonymity.
Sources, however, attribute this to the government’s motive to have centralised control over the high premium projects, after the allegedly impending move to divide GHMC into three separate corporations.
Published – February 05, 2026 08:38 pm IST
