Five sites picked for 9,000 homes [ 6th July 2010,The Asia Age]

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority has identified five new sites for the construction of around 9,000 units under the rental housing project in the Thane district.

According to the proposal with the development authority, some of these locations for the rental housing units are Chitalsar, Naupada in Thane, Sahad in Ulhasnagar and Ranjanoli in Bhiwandi. Around 3,815 units would be developed by Cheda & Cheda and Friends Development Corporation in Thane, while 4,660 rental homes would be developed by Century Rayon and Eco Homes in Ulhasnagar and Bhiwandi.

With these five new locations, the list of approved rental housing sites have gone up to 29. The MMRDA plans to develop as many as 2.17 lakh rental houses in these 90 locations. “Currently, as many as 5,000 rental units are being constructed in the areas of Thane and Mira-Bhayander,” said Mr Ratnakar Gaikwad, metropolitan commissioner of the development authority.

“The rental housing project is being implemented by the MMRDA under the Slum Prevention Programme. Under this programme, the rental houses that are being constructed in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region limits will charge a minimal rental amount so that the economically weaker sections can avail the benefits of living in apermanent structure instead of living in a slum,” added Mr Gaikwad.

According to the original plans of the MMRDA, five lakh rental units would be created in the MMR in the next five years. The rents would vary from Rs 800 to Rs 1,500. The eligibility criteria for availing these units would be a minimum monthly income of Rs 5,000. Further, the applicant should have lived in Maharashtra for a minimum of 15 years. The applicant should also be working within the MMR limits to avail the benefits of the scheme.

This model is applicable within the municipal corporation limits of Mum­bai, (suburbs) Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali, Mira-Bhayander, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Ulhasnagar and the special planning authority areas, which include the Vasai-Virar sub-region, Ambernath, Kulgaon and Badlapur among others.