Maharashtra government could face a big obstacle to achieve its target to build affordable houses under Housing for all scheme in Mumbai metropolitan region. In May, the government has announced to construct around 2 million affordable houses as part of Housing for All Scheme initiative.
According to the source, litigation over land and reliance on private builders could defeat the state government to achieve the goal. Maximum zones in Mumbai and metropolitan region are locked in a legal dispute between government and builders. The reason behind this dispute is land ceiling law which was introduced in 2007 under which individuals in urban areas could own more than 500 square meter residential land only if they permitted public housing in 5% of the excess land.
Such land, which developers should have handed over to public housing but didn’t, adds up to around 1,850 acres in Greater Mumbai (the municipal city limits) and another 4,000 acres in the larger metropolitan region. The government has laid claim to this land even though the law has been repealed, since developers did not use it for public housing when it was in force.
According to the statement of Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, the government was keen to release the disputed land. “The urban land ceiling issue has become a big headache for the government. The government intends to release this land for affordable housing, but the case is pending before the Supreme Court.
The source said that the affordable housing scheme is highly dependent on the private developers because the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority is not well-equipped to fully meet this challenge. Ironically, the government expects the private developers to provide affordable housing now when they never followed this program while the Urban Land Ceiling Regulation (ULCR) Act was in force.
Another official, who is part of the team specifically brought in by the current government to speed up pending urban land ceiling cases, pointed out that affordability depended a lot on when the land becomes available for construction.
“Even assuming that the government wins the case, construction of affordable housing on this land depends on the private developers because the government cannot construct houses. We will have to depend on the developers’ participation, but what is the incentive for them to keep the prices affordable,” said the official.
Source: www.livemint.com