Kolkata: Fifteen residential projects from places like Alipore Park Road, Southern Avenue, Ballygunge Circular Road and Baithakkhana Road will be up for review when KMC’s municipal building committee (MBC) meets for the first time in seven months on Saturday.The committee clears construction plans for large projects, ones coming up on areas of more than 500 sq m or 7.5 cottah. Besides, the plan of any building that is taller than 15.5 metres – usually the height of a G+IV building – needs the approval of MBC. Also, any non-residential structure is cleared by this committee. Other structures that are smaller in scale are approved by executive engineers of the respective boroughs of KMC.In a change from earlier practice, the structural engineer of a project must be present during the MBC meetings henceforth, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials said.Sources said the presence of the structural engineer has been introduced in the light of the collapse of the Taratala warehouse. The role of the structural engineers in the Taratala case, where an under-construction warehouse on Transport Depot Road collapsed and killed 16 people, has been under question.“Some new features have been introduced. Architects will be giving 3D presentation about the project. The structural engineer will be personally present, something that was not required before,” said an official.“The reconstituted MBC has members from railway subsidiaries like IRCON and RITES, and engineers from state PWD and central PWD. This is besides representatives from fire services, police and KMC, who were members of MBC earlier also,” said an official.An official of realtors’ body Credai said buildings that are set to be considered for clearance are up to 10 storeys. “We are glad that the MBC is meeting and expect another meeting shortly to clear buildings that are 20-22 stories tall,” the official said.The last time MBC met was in Feb, before the Assembly elections were announced. After the change in guard and the elected board of KMC was dissolved, MBC meetings were discontinued. Realtors, architects as well as KMC officials said scores of applications have piled up in the absence of a meeting.Resumption of large realty projects would mean revenue for KMC, too, as building plan sanction fees for large residential projects run into crores, said an official. “Fifteen projects will be reviewed on Saturday. All of them are in residential category,” said an official. Some of the projects will come up along Diamond Harbour Road, Ballygunge Park and Nayabad.
