The Indian Express              02.08.2013

Housing board to build 10% of Modi-promised houses for urban poor

The chairman of GHB, Jayantilal Barot, said that the agency is
targeting to build 2 lakh houses in the next five years. “GHB has been
lying dormant for the last 13-14 years. But now we have decided to start
building. We have 600 acres of land in our possession and we are
targeting to build a minimum of 25,000 housing units and a maximum of
40,000 units every year,” Barot said while addressing mediapersons on
Thursday.

The distribution of applications for the first phase of 2,132
housing units for Low and Middle Income Groups in Rajkot, Vadodara and
Surat began on Thursday. These houses are priced between Rs 9-19.75 lakh
(does not include the local corporation and electricity and water
connection charges). The houses are part of the 13-storeyed structured
that are being built in Munjka (Rajkot), Tarsali (Vadodara) and
Ganeshpura (Surat).

According to the official, all GHB houses being built in the
three cities will be between 671-971 square feet and will be based on
carpet area. “We will be having the concept of super-built-up used by
private builders,” Barot said, adding that working the process of
building around 7000-8000 houses in Ahmedabad will begin after two
months.

Barot also said that GHB has received Rs 85 crore as financial
assistance from the state government in July this year for the project.

Talking about the impact fee being charged for regulation illegal
constructions, the GHB chairman said that the same law would be
applicable to all 1.76 lakh houses that the GHB has built so far in
Gujarat. “Illegal constructions till 2011 will be regularised on payment
of the mandatory charges. The last date for filing applications for
this purpose is August 19. For all those illegal construction that have
happened after 2011, action will be taken if a complaint is filed.”