Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) is now empowered to give final approval for high-rise buildings within the Chennai Metropolitan Area, according to a government order cited by multiple outlets. The change is introduced to simplify the approval process for high-rise developments. Under the updated arrangement, CMDA’s role shifts to issuing the final decisions for such projects, rather than stopping at earlier stages of assessment. The government order also states that the modification does not remove existing oversight. The current scrutiny and committee review mechanisms continue to apply, meaning approvals are still subject to established checks and reviews even as the final approval authority moves to CMDA. The policy change is aimed at streamlining timelines for developers while preserving the regulatory safeguards already in place for evaluating high-rise proposals. Overall, the updates refine how approvals are processed by reallocating the final approval step to CMDA while maintaining the existing review framework across relevant committees and procedures.