The affordable housing policy by the state government is set to be implemented from April 15. The policy will be implemented after the final notification within a month’s period with a preliminary notification already out.
The decision got finalised in a meeting between Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development Department) TC Benjamin and representatives of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) from Pune, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Nashik and Aurangabad.
The government in the notification has made it mandatory to reserve 20 per cent of the land or constructed space for small-sized housing for all projects on more than 2,000 sq m land.
Benjamin said that, “The state has a dearth of such housing and this initiative will help bring about more such houses in residential projects. It will have to be implemented by the builders after April.”
Builders expressed reservations about whether the 20 per cent of the land should be reserved in the same area. However, it was decided that they could have a little farther but in the same zone. To this Benjamin added that, “They have to provide the housing with almost the same kind of infrastructure.”
The rule clearly mentions that in case of sub-division of land measuring 2,000 sq m or more, a minimum of 20 per cent will be handed over to MHADA. This would be applicable to the 26 municipal corporations and all municipal councils in the state. In order to prevent any misuse of the policy, the notification states that developers will not be allowed to amalgamate the smaller flats or land under any circumstances.
Most of the builders had reservations about having the economical housing on the same campus but later agreed to have it a little farther away from their projects.
Satish Magar, Pune CREDAI representative, who attended the meeting, said, “We are open to the policy but had some issues, which we discussed.”
“In case of the built-up space, it will be bought at the construction cost. In order to compensate the developer for the land cost, the affordable housing will be included in the floor space index computation,” said a senior official.
