MMRDA to build 5 lakh houses in 5 years…….Swati Soni
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) intends to create housing stock in order to give it out on a rental basis in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) under the Slum Prevention Programme (SPP). The MMRDA will take up construction of five lakh houses over the next five years, out of which 50,000 will be developed over the next year or so, explains metropolitan commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad.
The state governments slum rehabilitation schemes are essentially slum upgradation programmes but SPP is the need of the hour. SPP is easily possible if affordable housing is made available to migrants who have come here in search of job opportunities, he adds.
Under the SPP, 160 sq ft houses with attached toilets in the housing blocks will be made available on rent at a price of Rs 800-1500 just like the old BDD chawls in the island city which took care of early migrants to city like mill workers, dock workers, etc.
In Mumbai, we like to opt for the Project Affected Persons model (PAP). Like in the case of infrastructure projects, where the PAP are rehabilitated by the developer on his own land and in lieu, he gets transferable development rights (TDR) for both land and construction, we will be offering TDR to the builder for providing us with housing stock, says Gaikwad.
MMRDA intends to construct residential complexes of self-contained tenements of 160 sq ft (14.86 sqm) carpet area each with the help of interested developers / NGOs with own their own land and development rights or on the MMRDA land (at one or more locations in Mumbai Metropolitan Region). The complex is slated to have all basic required infrastructures such as internal roads,sewer lines, water supply lines, electricity etc. All plans will be approved by the MMRDA authorities before starting the construction.
Whether this will ease the housing stock in the city remains to be seen, but it is a move that will definitely have an impact.