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Slum Development / Housing

Mhada looks beyond city for affordable hsg

Tuesday, 17 August 2010 10:36 administrator
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The Times of India  17.08.2010

Mhada looks beyond city for affordable hsg

MUMBAI: Mumbai finds no mention in the list of places where the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) wants to buy land for `affordable housing'.

The advertisement issued by Mhada in Marathi newspapers on August 15 seeks to buy land from the open market in urban areas under the jurisdiction of its regional boards in Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati, Nagpur and Konkan. This leaves out Mumbai and the closest one can now hope to get Mhada apartments is in Thane, which includes Vasai-Virar and in Raigad, which includes Panvel.

"My officers said we had no realistic chances of getting any land in Mumbai, so we struck it off the list,'' said Mhada CEO Gautam Chatterji. The move has led to protests from observers and housing activists. "This is an admission of the government's total failure to provide affordable housing in the capital of the state,'' said Sudheendra Kulkarni of Observer Research Foundation, which recently held a round table discussion on affordable housing.

Housing activist and former Mhada presidentChandrashekahar Prabhu said, Mhada can create a lot of opportunities for public housing in Mumbai if it does not hand over its own plots to builders for redevelopment.

"It is clear that the government does not want the poor in Mumbai,'' said Ashish Shelar, BJP corporator from Mumbai.

Architect and housing activist Neera Adarkar said that at this rate, Mumbai would soon have a situation akin to that of apartheid-era South Africa where the blacks had to have a night pass for staying back in the city beyond dusk.

Kulkarni and Shelar said that there are significant parcels of land in Mumbai which can be used for public housing if there is a proper coordination between various central and state agencies. Shelar said that the government must look at land available with the Mumbai Port Trust, the railways, the Airport Authority of India, etc and examine ways to use part of them for affordable housing.

The other cities where Mhada is seeking land from the market for public housing are Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Satara, Solapur, sangli, Kolhapur, Dhule, Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Ahmednagar, Wardha, Gondia, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, buldana, Akola, Washim, Yavatmal, Jalna, Hingoli, Beed, Parbhani, Nanded, Latur and Osmanabad.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 17 August 2010 10:39
 

1,000 new homes for MHADA in 4 colonies

Monday, 16 August 2010 11:12 administrator
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Indian Express    16.08.2010

1,000 new homes for MHADA in 4 colonies

Express News Service Tags : housing, development Posted: Mon Aug 16 2010, 22:40 hrs

Mumbai:  Ardevelopment : Societies in Versova, Mulund, Goregaon, Dadar want height, offer space

The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) hopes to generate 1,000-odd affordable houses through redevelopment of four of its housing colonies.

The four colonies that are being razed and reconstructed are Aaram Nagar in Versova, PMGP Colony in Mulund, Patra Chawl in Goregaon and Lokmanya Tilak Nagar in Dadar. Officials said the colonies had approached the authority, offering to hand over a certain portion of the built-up area to the housing board in return for a higher floor space index of 2.5.

“These are large layouts and the premium to be paid to MHADA works out to a heavy sum. So instead of coughing up an upfront premium, these societies have agreed to part with a percentage of new flats after the redevelopment,” said MHADA chief engineer DR Hadadare. The flats that would come up for public housing would be in the 450-800 sq ft range.

Two lakh families stay in the 104 MHADA colonies in the city. The state government had, over a year ago, increased to 2.5 the FSI for redevelopment of these colonies Private developers taking up redevelopment can construct up to 75 per cent of the area used for rehabilitation of residents and sell it in the open market. Of the remaining built-up area created using the extra FSI, 70 per cent has to be given to MHADA and the rest can be retained by the developers. However, almost all developers have so far chosen not to part with any built-up area and have instead paid an upfront premium to MHADA. 

MHADA vice president Gautam Chatterjee said the option of paying a premium was only applicable in the suburbs. For MHADA societies in the island city, it is mandatory for developers to hand over a certain percentage of the houses. “However, we haven’t received a single proposal from the island city so far, mainly because most layouts are also affected by the Coastal Regulations Zone norms.”

Of the 400-odd projects that have so far been given the green signal for redevelopment in the suburbs, not one has offered to share flats with MHADA.

Last Updated on Monday, 16 August 2010 11:13
 

Rs 1. 02 cr released for Ashraya colonies

Tuesday, 10 August 2010 12:03 administrator
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The Times of India  10.08.2010

Rs 1. 02 cr released for Ashraya colonies

MANGALORE: The government has released Rs 1.02 crore as grants for the development of Ashraya colonies in the district. The funds have been released through the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation, stated a release from Mangalore South MLA N Yogish Bhat.

He said the grants will be released in four instalments and 40% of the first instalment has already been deposited in deputy commissioner's account. The implementation authority for this scheme is Nirmithi Kendra, Surathkal.

Giving details of where the funds will be used, the release stated that Rs 68.56 lakh will be used for development of basic infrastructure at Shakthinagar Ashraya colony in the city corporation limits. The Ullas Nagar Bajal Ashraya colony will get a grant of Rs 34.13 crore for the above mentioned purpose. The remaining amount of Rs 23.87 crore will be used for water supply at Preethi Nagar at Shakthinagar.

Bhat stated that the Nirmithi Kendra director has been directed to commence the works. The work will be completed with in 90 days and the civil engineering staff from National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NIT-K), Surathkal, have been appointed as third party technical advisors for quality control.

 
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