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ShareMumbai: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in his budget speech said that the Centre was planning to clear the country of slums in five years. This is good news for the state -- particularly the city, which has been trying to rid itself of the 'slum capital of the country' tag for decades.
Mukherjee's decision to hike the allocation for housing and basic amenities for the urban poor to Rs3,973 crore in the budget offers a good opportunity for Maharashtra, particularly Mumbai, to achieve this.With the state government likely to promote more schemes like the Dharavi slum redevelopment project, the lure of higher floor-space index will see developers making a beeline for housing projects to be implemented on a public-private partnership basis, property experts said.
The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) has come up with a scheme for affordable housing, which will be implemented with funds released by the centre under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The scheme will be implemented with the help of private partners. Mhada is the implementing agency for JNNURM projects in Mumbai.
The Centre will contribute Rs60,000 to Rs1 lakh for every tenement constructed for economically weaker sections (EWS) and low-income groups (LIG) under the scheme. At least 25% of the total flats in any such private-partnership projects have to be for the EWS and LIG categories. The remaining flats can be constructed for middle and high-income groups and sold by the developers for profits at market rates.
Buyers from EWS and LIG categories will not only get affordable homes, they will also be able to avail of a subsidy of 5% per annum on the interest charged on home loans.
"MHADA will soon invite expressions of interest from developers who will use their lands for this project," MHADA vice-president Gautam Chaterjee said. "The board is in the process of framing guidelines specifying minimum area of land required for individual projects, the floor-space index that will be give as incentive and similar details," he said.
Already two developers -- Neptune Group and Shreepati Developers -- have submitted their proposals for the scheme. Shreepati Developers aims to develop around 18,000 flats at Khalapur near Karjat. Of these, 7,678 flats will be for the EWS and LIG categories. Similarly, the Neptune Group has proposed to develop more than 10,000 units on a 100-acre plot at Ambivli.
As per the 2001 census, there are 42.6 million slum residents in India of a total urban population of 284 million. At 27.3%, Maharashtra has the highest proportion of slum dwellers as a percentage of total urban population. More than 25% of the slum population of India is concentrated in 61 cities of Maharashtra, with Mumbai having the largest population. Maharashtra, a major recipient of JNNURM funds, is constructing 3 lakh houses for EWS and LIG categories.
