With a number of builders agreeing to offer housing stock to MHADA for redevelopment projects, many more will be able to purchase their dream homes
A piece of news that will probably prompt a rise in MHADA’s stock in the eyes of the common man – Mumbai appears set to add no less than one lakh affordable homes to its kitty in the coming days.
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At present there are 56 MHADA societies in the city, which consist of 3,071 buildings. The norm for developing these structures prior to 2010 was to pay a premium to the housing authority, get a no-objection certificate (NOC) and then carry out construction.
However, in September 2010 MHADA introduced a rule that any builder redeveloping a society or building of the authority will have to give housing stocks to it. This led to a major uproar and developers started shying away from MHADA redevelopment. Shiv Sena too had jumped into the fray and its leader Subhash Desai even protested against the rule. But MHADA remained adamant on its demand for housing stock against according NOC for construction.
The effort has finally paid off and MHADA is expecting results before this year ends. According to senior officials from the housing authority, NOCs for 19 projects would soon be released. While details of these ventures aren’t available yet, MiD DAY has learnt that developers have displayed interest in providing housing stocks to MHADA for some projects in Goregaon, Andheri and Pant Nagar.
R Mitkar, chief engineer, MHADA, confirmed that 19 developers have agreed to hand over housing stocks to the authority, and maintained that this formula will be applicable to granting of all NOCs. “If a builder is redeveloping a MHADA society, he would get floor space index (FSI) of 2.5, and he will first have to construct a rehabilitation building to house the existing tenants. Whatever area remains shall be divided into three parts – two of these will go to MHADA and one will be given to the builder,” he said. What has boosted the housing authority’s confidence is that even the state government — and especially the chief minister — has backed the strategy and has made it clear to detractors that MHADA will only accept housing stocks, and not money, as premium.
Explaining why housing stock is the need of the hour, a senior MHADA functionary insisted that the authority has limited land available and this approach is the best one to create housing that can be passed on to citizens at affordable rates.
“With almost no land in our hands, the housing stock that will be generated from redevelopment of MHADA buildings, as per our calculations, will result in nearly 1 lakh homes that will be able to accommodate more than 5 lakh people. MHADA is the housing authority of the state and by selling dwellings at reasonable rates we will not only fulfil our responsibility, but also ease the demand in the market,” said the officer.u00a0
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