On Tuesday 26 August 2015, The Orissa Assembly has passed a Bill in which the authority has aims to reserve 20 percent of total vacant land available in Orissa for affordable housing schemes for Economical Weaker Sections of the society.
Orissa development Authorities Bill 2015 (Amendment) was rolled out with the provision of 20 percent land to be earmarked for residential use for any housing projects which would be constructed by housing development authorities of government.
According to the sources, a housing shortfall of 1.5 lakh units was estimated in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack region in 2007. In a recent estimate on urban housing shortage for 2012-2017 by the technical group, there is a shortfall of about 4.1 lakh housing units in Orissa. According to the estimate, approximately 3.6 lakh affordable housing units would have to be added in Bhubaneswar-Cuttack to fulfill the demand of growth during the next 10 years.
According to the study on affordable housing in 2012, most of the developments in Bhubaneswar-Cuttack region were of HIG and MIH type. This shows that the developers will have to refrained housing units for lower housing groups instead of HIG and MIG apartments in this region. The region needs more EWS Flats for economical weaker sections instead of HIG and MIG apartments, because 40 per cent of Bhubaneswar’s population living in the slums.
The government bodies like Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), Cuttack Development Authority (CDA) and Odisha State Housing Board (OSHB) have not been able to resolve the issue of mass housing for economical weaker sections.
Approximately 1 lakh houses would be constructed under the new housing for all scheme for economical weaker sections in the upcoming 5 years. The new amendment makes it compulsory for all developers who will develop apartment and group housing schemes with plot sizes above then 2000 square meter to reserve 10 percent of build up area for EWS housing units.
The private developer would be entitled to received compensatory floor area ration equivalent to 100 per cnt of the built up area utilised for EWS units. In case the private developers are not abl to provide EWS units in the project area, they would be allowed to provide the same at a location not beyond 5 km away.