AP Rollout Modern Building Rules, Digital Approvals & Green Mandates

Amaravati: In a first of its kind, Andhra Pradesh Government has issued G.O.Ms.No.273, by Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department, notifying a comprehensive set of amendments to the AP Building Rules, 2017, marking a major policy advancement in urban safety standards, environmental sustainability, energy efficiency, investment facilitation, and Speed of Doing Business in the State.

A major governance milestone has been integration of all town planning permissions into a unified single-window digital platform, covering building permissions, layouts, telecom towers, change in land use (CLU), land use certificate (LUC) and TDR, with integration underway/operational with Fire Services, AAI, Mines, Revenue and Registration Departments, supported by AI and blockchain. The Self Certification Scheme (SCS) 2025 has empowered Licensed Technical Persons to issue eligible permissions, significantly reducing delays. Common Zoning Regulations have simplified land use structures, encouraging mixed-use development with clarity and predictability.

To further build investor trust, a 72-hour Special High-Rise Clearance Cell has been constituted. Simultaneously, LRS & BPS have brought unauthorised layouts and constructions into the legal fold. The government has also initiated one of the State’s largest urban land bank programmes, covering over 1,240 acres across 18 UDAs for PPP-based planned development in partnership with Andhra Pradesh Urban Infrastructure Asset Management Limited (APUIAM).

Principal Secretary, MA&UD Department S. Suresh Kumar, stated that the notification “represents a purposeful restructuring of the regulatory ecosystem to create safer cities, promote responsible urbanisation, enhance investor trust and strengthen approval predictability

through technology-enabled transparency.” He added that the reforms place Andhra Pradesh on par with leading States and reflect calibrated responses to evolving urban development needs.

Key highlights of the new changes include uniform definition of high-rise buildings at 24 metres and above, ensuring alignment with leading national jurisdictions and providing clear regulatory certainty for developers and approval authorities, stricter and streamlined fire safety framework, green building incentivisation linked to performance, realistic development support in congested and settlement areas and mandatory organised open spaces with strong legal safeguards.

Suresh Kumar emphasized that this notification is part of a larger urban transformation and planning reform agenda rolled out during 2025 and informed that the government undertook a national benchmarking initiative, studying best practices across leading cities including Delhi, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Indore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram.

Based on this, extensive reforms were notified in Andhra Pradesh Building Rules and Layout Rules, including rationalized setbacks, podium parking, environmental decks, liberal norms for non-high-rise development, realistic provisions for dense habitations, strengthened CCTV norms, and calibrated industrial development permissions.

Mobility and road discipline have been strengthened through circulation pattern approvals, with 1,532 locality patterns already sanctioned, improving scientific development and ULB revenues. Parking norms in industrial layouts have been rationalised with pooled parking concepts to ease compliance burden while maintaining planning integrity. These initiatives together represent one of the most comprehensive, reform-driven and future-oriented urban governance modernisation efforts undertaken by any State in India,” the Principal Secretary stated.

Commenting on the revolutionary changes, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said the reforms reflect Andhra Pradesh’s determination to build world-class, investment-ready, climate-resilient and citizen-centric cities, with transparent governance frameworks, predictable approvals and technology-driven systems that inspire confidence among citizens, industries and investors.

Minister for MA&UD P. Narayana stated that Andhra Pradesh has implemented one of the most comprehensive and technically robust reform frameworks in urban planning, grounded in global benchmarking, scientific standards and stakeholder consultations. He said the MA&UD Department will ensure strict implementation, continuous monitoring and faster service delivery, translating reforms into visible outcomes across cities and towns.