Urban News

The guidelines comes in the wake of Minister for Slum Clearance and Accommodation Control Suba Thangavelan’s announcement in the Assembly in April that the Housing and Urban Development Department would implement PPP for housing projects in the CMA.

According to these guidelines, landowners or group of individuals or companies or trusts or cooperatives or local bodies holding more than 100 acres of land can participate in the joint venture development with the CMDA to create housing stock. The guidelines also state that landowners shall enter into a memorandum of understanding with the CMDA with a registered agreement supported by general power of attorney with specific clauses enabling the authority to hand over lands earmarked for open space and roads to the local body along with the power to re-allot the developed land to other beneficiaries.

Besides, the agreement shall be provided with the required grievance redressal mechanism, including provision for arbitration and to settle the disputes in jurisdiction courts.

But, real estate experts like Marg Properties Advisor and former chief planner of CMDA Subash Chandra, while hailing the scheme, feel that the plan has a limited scope. “Under CMA, getting 100 acres is quite difficult. However, in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur, such lands are available,” Chandra said.

He feels since it is a pilot project, the government may later reduce the extent to 50 acres or 25 acres. Some realty experts feel that the Directorate of Town and Country Planning in Tamil Nadu should be made the agency to implement the plan as the CMDA doesn’t have any say over the region outside the CMA.