Mumbai: The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) is planning to purchase land at market prices to provide more affordable homes to the economically weak.
MHADA is faced with a shortage of land for providing homes at affordable prices to the urban poor, MHADA Vice-President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Gautam Chatterjee, said at a conference here.
“We do not have land earmarked especially for the development of affordable houses for the urban poor. If MHADA can acquire land from the market, then we can go ahead with a scheme to construct houses that will have an EWS (Economically Weaker Section) housing component too,” Mr Chatterjee said.
The land available with MHADA is passed on by the Government at subsidised rates, he said. “Since the major component of the price of finished products (houses) depends on the value of the land, the Government finds it difficult to subsidise the land. As a result, MHADA faces land-shortage constraint,” he said. This is the main reason why the Authority is unable to take up affordable homes projects by itself, he said.
FSI ADVANTAGE
To overcome this, the Authority now plans to purchase land at market prices from developers and give them the advantage of the MHADA’s additional 2.5 FSI scheme.
“Private developers get an additional FSI for their housing projects depending on the Development Control Regulations. But if they enter into a joint venture with MHADA, then it would be a MHADA project and developers would be able to get the Authority’s scheme of additional 2.5 FSI,” he said.
However, out of the total built-up area, nearly 30 per cent should be reserved by developers for the EWS. “This section should be provided houses at rates affordable to them,” he said.
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