Mumbai, July 23 (IANS) In a serious bid to pursue its vision of “My House, My Right”, by 2030, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday released a government resolution on the Housing Policy 2025.
The government, which expects an investment of Rs 70,000 crore during the implementation of this ambitious housing policy, proposes to construct 35 lakh houses in five years.
Further, the government plans to increase the size of MahaAwas Fund to Rs 20,000 crore. The ultimate target is to build 50 lakh houses in the next 10 years. To achieve this ambitious target, existing provisions under the Development Control and Promotion Regulations/Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations and relevant institutional frameworks will be strengthened and modified as needed.
Additionally, active participation from the private sector will be promoted through a range of incentive-based measures.
The government proposes to carry out a comprehensive programme for slum rehabilitation and redevelopment. The specific needs of low-income earners, senior citizens, women, industrial workers and students will be given priority consideration in the policy.
The district land banks of the government and semi-government lands will be created. The state-level portal will soon be developed for providing information on housing development through government-private sector partnership, through developers and also through state-run undertakings.
The policy, which focuses on housing for all, also aims to achieve a slum-free state by laying emphasis on the economically weaker sections (EWS), lower income group (LIG) and middle income group (MIG) segments of the policy.
The policy proposes affordable housing initiatives, redevelopment of old buildings to improve living conditions and optimise land use and transforming slums through public-private partnerships.
It promotes inclusive housing by capturing resources created by the private market, integrated townships that offer affordable housing with essential services, and industrial workers’ housing to ensure proximity to workplaces.
Affordable housing has been given infrastructure status. This enables the developers to avail of External Commercial Borrowing (ECB), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for their projects. It is also a sector eligible for Priority Sector Lending (PSL) from Banks and HFCs.
On the concept of Walk to Work, around 10 per cent to 30 per cent land should be reserved for housing in MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) areas. Such land should be handed over to the appropriate authority at the applicable acquisition price, so that authority can create an adequate housing stock in such areas. The authority can also partner with the private industries to provide housing for industrial workers in a PPP model.
The policy proposes to reserve 10 per cent to 15 per cent of the land suitable for housing projects adjacent to the ambitious infrastructure projects (adjacent to Samruddhi Highway, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor).
The policy focuses on green building initiatives to promote sustainable development through eco-friendly practices and certifications. To ensure inclusive development, the policy also attempts to address affordable housing for other vulnerable groups such as senior citizens, working women, students, Project Affected Persons (PAPs) and migrant workers.
Senior citizen housing addresses unique safety and accessibility needs, and community support, and housing for students and working women ensures safety and affordability. Project-Affected Persons (PAP) housing provides solutions for those displaced by development projects.
Affordable rental housing schemes cater to transient populations, including migrant workers and students. Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) scheme under PMAY and rental housing projects under other state schemes will be leveraged to provide rental housing for migrant industrial workers.
Amid burgeoning challenges due to climate change, the policy advocates the construction of resilient housing towards climate change mitigation and adaptation. Such housing is designed to minimise damage, reduce vulnerability and reduce the impacts of adverse weather conditions.
The policy proposes a slew of incentives including single window clearance, 1 per cent GST, floor space index (FSI) up to 2.5 per cent, commercial use permitted up to 10 per cent of utilised FSI, concession in development changes, waiver of Registration and Stamp Duty charges to the operators, reduced Property Tax for first ten years of operation and 100 per cent deduction on the profit of operating student housing.
In case of slum rehabilitation schemes on public land, the slum rehabilitation schemes can be implemented in a Joint Venture (JV) by setting up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and adopting the Dharavi model of 20:80.
For this purpose, the initiative will require the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) to set up a special purpose company in which the SRA should hold a 20 per cent stake with voting rights.
In order to promote adoption of new and innovative construction technologies and cost-effective, environment-friendly, locally available and disaster-resilient construction materials, the government has offered sops including income tax deductions on expenses on innovative construction technology, reduced GST on materials and a technology innovation grant.
In order to promote construction finance, the government proposes to set up state state-level distressed asset fund, an amnesty scheme and interest-free loans.
In addition, a state-level constitution fund will be set up to support affordable housing and housing projects by public authorities, public-private partnerships, as well as projects by private developers.
–IANS
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