No KMC building panel meet in 6 months, over 300 city realty projects stuck
Times of India | 20 August 2026
Kolkata: Kolkata’s Municipal Building Committee — the final sanctioning authority for a wide range of construction proposals — has not met for six months, resulting in more than 300 projects getting stuck in a bureaucratic freeze.
The deadlock has halted approvals for several categories of projects, including commercial developments, residential projects on 500-square-metre plots, hospitals, educational institutions and constructions on corner plots. Fresh proposals are being submitted but they are piling up in the absence of MBC meetings, say developers.
The committee, they add, has not functioned since February, creating uncertainty over project timelines, investment commitments and construction schedules. The delay has also raised concerns over cost escalation, contractual disruptions and stalled employment generation in the sector. The logjam has also affected project launches.
Kolkata Municipal Corporation building department officials said they were aware of the problem but were unable to move ahead until a decision was taken to convene the MBC.
The administrative hesitation, say officials, stems from the approval structure and the political flux since the May assembly poll. Proposals cleared by the the MBC are normally placed before the mayor-in-council and formal sanction is granted after MiC approval. The mayor, too, has special powers to sanction proposals if the MiC is unable to meet. But, with no mayor and the elected board having been dissolved as part of the ongoing political changes, the administration may not be willing to take “sensitive” decisions, say officials.
The MBC used to meet at least once a fortnight, depending on the number of proposals awaiting clearance, before the dissolution of the elected board. “An average of 50-60 projects used to be cleared every month,” a civic official said. That system has now come to a standstill, leaving developers without clarity on when their projects will be examined.
The MBC includes representatives from the KMC, the KMDA, the state fire department, police and architects.
A senior developer said the govt’s reform push would remain incomplete unless administrative speed matched policy intent. “Ease of doing business must be accompanied by speed of doing business. Investment and development both suffer without timely approvals,” he said.
Another developer hoped that the KMC would shift its focus to projects awaiting clearance as the audit of under-construction buildings neared completion.