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."