Public agencies to play major role in creating housing stock

Now, public agencies will be asked to play a bigger role in creating housing stock in the state as earlier policies, which depended on private developers for the same, had failed, said chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.

Now, public agencies will be asked to play a bigger role in creating housing stock in the state as earlier policies, which depended on private developers for the same, had failed, said chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.

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Chavan made this statement on Monday after legislators expressed dissatisfaction over the reply by the government in a calling attention motion on lack of affordable housing stock in Thane district, touted as the fastest growing district in the 2011 census.

Speaker Dilip Walse Patil, who intervened in the calling attention motion, asked Chavan to reply to the chief concern among legislators that land was being given away at throwaway prices to developers, who largely catered to the rich and failed to create low-cost or middle-cost housing in the district.

"Like in the case of Dharavi, will there be a greater role for agencies like Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) and City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) in creating housing stock in Thane?" asked Walse Patil.

Chavan told the assembly that despite seeking global tenders for the redevelopment of Dharavi, the project had not met with much success and there was rethink on whether one sector could be redeveloped by Mhada, instead of private developers.

"The policy on Dharavi is yet to be formalised, but we have seen in the past that we offer land to developers and invariably they create houses for the rich and not poor," said Chavan.

In Dharavi's case, the government plans to raise resources by auctioning off a portion of land and sub-contracting redevelopment of the sector on the remaining portion.

Chavan said this model could then be replicated in other cities like Pune, Nagpur and Thane.

This means that Mhada and other public agencies would be asked to take on bigger role in urban renewal instead of depending solely on private developers. "Private developers cannot be completely routed out as public agencies will not be able to meet the demand totally. We will have to see that norms are strictly followed by developers," he added.