Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has proposed additional floor area ratio (FAR) incentives for landowners who voluntarily merge their plots under town planning schemes (TPS), along with a new City Infrastructure Impact Fee (CIIF) for developments outside such schemes.The proposals are part of the draft BDA (Planning and Building Standards) Second Amendment Regulations, 2026, published in an extraordinary issue of the Odisha Gazette recently. The draft seeks to replace Chapter IX, including Regulations 77 to 79, of the 2018 regulations.Under the proposed rules, two or more khatadars or plot owners who agree to merge their original plots into a single final plot will be eligible for additional FAR after a 40% deduction. Merging of plots measuring more than 500 sq m and up to 1,000 sq m will get an incentive of 0.5 FAR, while plots exceeding 1,000 sq m will qualify for 1 FAR. This means that a merged plot of up to 1,000 sq m can receive an additional 500 sq m of built-up area, while those above can get an equal amount of built-up area (say, a 4,000 sq m plot can receive 4,000 sq m extra).To regulate the benefit, the BDA has proposed a FAR Incentive Certificate (FIC), which will be issued along with the possession order. The certificate will record the FAR granted, its utilisation and the balance available. The FIC will be valid for 10 years from the date of notification of the final town planning scheme.The BDA may extend the validity subject to conditions and payment of charges. Any unused incentive will lapse after expiry. The draft also lays down that the incentive must be used first whenever a building proposal exceeds the base FAR. Other permissible methods of obtaining additional FAR can be used only after the FIC incentive has been utilised.“Once recorded as utilised, the incentive cannot be restored or reclaimed even if the building is subsequently altered, demolished, abandoned or the sanctioned plan is surrendered. The benefit will also lapse if the amalgamated plot is subdivided or the amalgamation is cancelled,” the draft rules read.The draft introduces a separate CIIF for developments located outside the town planning scheme boundaries but dependent on access to a TPS road. The fee will apply where a project has direct access to a TPS road or accesses it through an intervening road connected to the TPS network.For subdivisional layouts, the CIIF will be calculated at 1% of the benchmark value of the plot, multiplied by a TPS infrastructure factor. The proposed fee is Rs 50 per sq m of built-up area for residential plotted development, Rs 60 per sq m for institutional projects and Rs 75 per sq m for apartment, commercial and industrial uses.