The state
government has decided to review and revive the Shivshahi Punarvasan Prakalp to
redevelop slums by constructing a large number of housing stock in Mumbai.
Housing experts say this move will ease the sky-rocketing prices of houses in
the city.
State
minister for housing Ravindra Waikar told dna, “We want to revive this
innovative slum redevelopment scheme. It had received tremendous response during
the earlier Sena-BJP regime in 1995. Now, to buy a house is the primary dream
of the common man. Therefore, we want to step into that sector. The government
has also allocated Rs1,600 crore in the budget for development of slums in the
city.”
He also
said they will soon frame guidelines to execute the scheme. “We are taking all
views into consideration before finalising the policy. A large chunk of the
urban populace lives in the slums — almost 40%. If we redevelop these slums,
city will get a huge stock of houses with the additional floor space index,”
Waikar added.
In the
past 19 years, the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) has constructed only 1.5
lakh houses. “To build the remaining 11.5 lakh houses required, SRA will take
another 140 years with the current speed of approval and construction. It shows
that government agencies are inept at handling the city’s housing demand,”
stated a report released by Praja, an NGO.
Managing
director at Liases Foras, a real estate research agency, Pankaj Kapoor welcomed
the move. “Earlier, the Shivshahi Punarvasan Prakalp could not click because
the property prices were not lucrative. So, most of the developers were
reluctant to redevelop slums. Meanwhile, private developers took over, but the
success ratio is still a distant dream as per the Praja report. Now, with
higher FSI, slum redevelopment will be financially feasible,” Kapoor said.
He added
that it is always good when multiple government agencies are involved in
construction of houses. “It will regulate housing prices. And the supply will
regulate the demand. Besides, every city has to evolve after a certain period.
In slum redevelopment also, luxurious houses can be constructed. We have a huge
scope of redevelopment in slum areas... It will not only provide bigger,
well-maintained houses but will also help people keep the surrounding condition
of the redeveloped areas hygienic,” he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment