Chandigarh, March 24 The Haryana Cabinet on Tuesday approved significant amendments to the Industrial Licensing Policy-2015 to rationalize regulatory provisions, reduce the financial burden on developers, and promote planned industrial development across the state.
The amendments have been introduced in response to long-standing industry demands, including representations from stakeholders, such as the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), and are aimed at bringing clarity, consistency, and parity with decisions taken in other sectoral policies, such as the Textile Policy, an official statement said.
A key decision of the Cabinet relates to the rationalization of External Development Charges (EDC) in agricultural zones.
It has been approved that in cases where an industrial license has been granted in agricultural zones beyond 500 meters of the urbanizable limit, and where a completion or part completion certificate has already been issued, no EDC will be payable if such land subsequently gets included within the urbanizable zone or within 500 meters thereof.
However, for the remaining non-completed portion of such licensed land, EDC will be applicable as per prevailing norms for industrial colonies in urbanizable zones.
Further, in cases where a developer seeks specific infrastructure facilities for the already completed or part-completed area, only the actual cost of such infrastructure, as provided by the concerned government agencies, will be charged.
The Cabinet also approved amendments to enable more efficient utilization of land in the transport and communication sectors.
The existing industrial licensing policy has been aligned with the Change of Land Use (CLU) policy dated March 19, 2021, by allowing industrial units in the transport and communication sectors, thereby ensuring parity between licensing and CLU mechanisms.
Under the revised provisions, permission for setting up industrial colonies, as well as CLU permissions, will now be allowed in transport and communication zones of published Final Development Plans, up to 25 per cent of the total net planned area of such zones, to enable enhanced land utilization through compact development.
This change also extends the applicability of such provisions to hyper potential and high potential towns, which were previously not covered, thus expanding industrial opportunities in rapidly growing urban centers.