State green nod to luxury housing project

After being rejected for a green clearance twice, Orchid Crown, a luxury housing project in Prabhadevi, has finally got the go-ahead by the state environment panel.

After being rejected for a green clearance twice, Orchid Crown, a luxury housing project in Prabhadevi, has finally got the go-ahead by the state environment panel. The project is being developed by Real Gem Tech Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of DB Realty has finally got a go ahead by the state environment panel.

The state environment impact assessment authority (SEIAA), which has the final say in green clearances to all construction projects over 20,000 sq meters in the state, cleared the project in its last meeting in February.

The luxury housing project envisages three residential towers, two 60-storey and one 51-storey building, with three, four and five BHK flats for sale.

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The project had been in queue for a green go ahead since 2010 and had been slammed repeatedly by the state expert appraisal committee (SEAC) — a body of experts — which had rejected this project for clearance twice on grounds of very high construction area that worked out to nearly 15.8 times the plot size. The SEIAA said the green approval had now been given as the project developers had complied with most points raised by the expert panel.

“The project proponent has reduced total construction area by about 45,000 sq meters, or 13 % of the original construction area, the number of basements has been reduced from three to two, number of tenements from 534 to 450 and parking spaces from 1360 to 1132,” stated the minutes of the SEIAA meeting.

However, there are still hurdles ahead for the project as the civic body has amended its parking policy, restricting the civic car park to four storeys. Orchid Crown has envisaged a 14-storey parking tower. The civic body had sent it a show cause notice asking why the commencement certificate for the car park should not be revoked.