Cidco to start building low-cost houses from September

MORE HOUSES 13,810 houses will be constructed in first phase, 55,000 homes in five years

CBD BELAPUR: Cidco is all set to begin work on its plan to construct 55,000 houses in 5 years for the lower income groups (LIG) and economically weaker sections (EWS) in the city.

Construction of the first set of affordable houses is expected to begin from September this year.

In a major policy plan, the nodal agency is planning to exclude the land cost from the prices of the house to help drastically bring down the prices.

To ensure that the project quality is not as has been the case with its previous projects, Cidco has decided to demand a guarantee of 10 years from the contractors.

In the first phase 13,810 houses will be constructed. The first phase will witness construction of houses in Kharghar, Taloja-Pachnand, Ulwe and Dronagiri.

Cidco senior public relations officer Mohan Ninawe said, “The tenders for the projects are being worked upon. The actual construction work is expected to start in 6 months time.”

With housing prices spiraling in the city, leaving the lower income groups in the lurch, CIDCO has taken a decision to provide affordable houses to the residents.

It 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.

While prices of flats in the city are touching the sky, most developers have simply stopped constructing smaller houses. This leaves the common man with little options. 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 over four years, Cidco 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.

According to Cidco joint man- aging director V Radha, “In 2014, there was heavy booking for the Swanpapurti housing scheme of Cidco in Kharghar. There were 87,000 applications for 3,154 houses. Around 2 lakh applications had been sold. The scheme proved that there is demand for cheap budget homes in the city.”