Cidco to build 5 lakh houses in seven years

AFFORDABLE HOUSING After the success of last year’s Kharghar project, the planning agency will build low-cost houses at Vashi, Ghansoli

In its endeavour to provide affordable housing in Navi Mumbai, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) is working on a plan to construct 5 lakh houses in the city in the next seven years.

The houses will be for economically weaker sections (EWS) and the lower-income groups (LIG).

The proposed housing projects will come up at Vashi, Ghansoli, Kharghar, TalojaPachnand and other areas.

In a major policy plan, the nodal agency is planning to exclude the land cost from the prices of the flats, to help drastically bring down the prices. Cidco has approached the state urban development department to grant it additional FSI to help it recover the land cost from other sources in order to reduce the cost of the flats it builds.

Cidco’s decision is motivated by the skyrocketing housing prices in the city, a situation that has left the lower-income groups in the lurch. Most developers have simply stopped constructing smaller houses. This leaves the common man with little option. It is in this context that Cidco has once again decided to concentrate on its basic objective of providing affordable housing in the city.

In the last four years, it has constructed 8,750 houses in various areas of the city for various sections of the society. Of these, 4,500 houses have been for the middle and lower income groups.

Cidco joint managing director V Radha said, “Last year, there was heavy booking for Cidco’s Swapnapurti housing scheme in Kharghar. There were 87,000 applications for 3,154 houses. Around 2 lakh application forms had been sold. The scheme proved that there is heavy demand for smaller and cheaper homes in the city.”

She said, “It is in this context that Cidco has taken a decision to construct 5 lakh houses in the next seven years. We have begun the spadework for the same.”

Radha said, “Work is on to select the areas for the projects, the housing schemes, plans for the houses, the details of amenities to be provided, pricing etc. We have appointed an agency to conduct the requisite survey.”

Radha said, “We are working on excluding the cost of land from the cost of the flats, as it forms a major chunk of the price. Such exclusion will bring a major relief to the buyers.”

She said, “Soon Cidco will be majorly involved in the construction of houses all over. We will concentrate on providing EWS and LIG houses and not Middle Income Group and Higher Income Group houses.”

BACHCHAN KUMAR