Maha economic survey: ₹33,212-cr spent on five key infra projects; only ₹651.43 cr on homes

The state government has spent ₹33,212 crore on five major under-construction infrastructure projects, including Metro lines, a sea link, an expressway, the Economic

The state government has spent ₹33,212 crore on five major under-construction infrastructure projects, including Metro lines, a sea link, an expressway, the Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2019-20 showed. The amount is 30.48% of the total cost of the ₹1.08-lakh-crore for the five projects. In a stark contrast, the expenditure on construction of affordable housing was ₹651.43 crore, and the number of dwelling units constructed by housing agencies has halved in the same period, in comparison to 2018-19.

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The state only managed to construct 9% of its targeted dwellings under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). Of the 2,89,700 dwellings targeted in 2019-20, only 26,376 units were constructed in the state, the survey reported. The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) constructed 2,074 dwelling units up to November 2019. While it constructed 5,116 units in 2018.

According to the economic survey, ₹4,418.45 crore was spent on the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), while ₹12,795 crore has been spent on construction of the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro-3 corridor. For the construction of the Dahisar-DN Nagar Metro 2A and Dahisar East-Andheri East Metro 7 corridors, the state has spent ₹1,498.33 crore and ₹1,490.02 crore, respectively.

The construction of the 701-km Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway, which is around 30% complete, has so far incurred an expenditure of ₹13,011.33 crore. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, the implementing agency, has spent ₹6,991 crore for compensation for land acquisition to acquire 8,311.15 hectares along the stretch of the expressway.

As per the data provided by Mhada in the Economic Survey of Maharashtra, it constructed 742 units for the economically weaker section (EWS), 813 units for low-income group (LIG) and 519 tenements and incurred expenditure of ₹651.43 crore in 2019-20. It did not construct any housing units for the middle-income group (MIG) and high-income group (HIG). Of these housing units, 1,261 dwelling units were constructed in Mumbai at an expenditure of ₹273.71 crore. It included 114 units for EWS, 660 units for LIG and 487 tenements.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA), which was set up in 2017 to regulate the industry and to protect the interests of homebuyers, received 10,171 complaints up to January 2020, of which 7,265 were resolved. Up to January 2020, 24,450 housing projects were registered with MahaRERA.