Soon, the students in Gujarat and those coming from other states will be able to avail rental homes at much cheaper rates than the market price. The Gujarat government is all set to announce its new Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) scheme in a week or two.
Under the ARHC scheme, the government will be tying up with private players, under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, to utilise vacant houses in the Gujarat Housing Board and other schemes.
The developer or property management firm will be given vacant houses on a fixed rental model under which the firms can rent it out to lower income group (LIG), economically weaker section (EWS), students and others.
Similarly, the government also has another model in which the developer can come up with their own project and construct dwellings as per given specifications. Here, the developer will be also getting 50 per cent more FSI (Floor Space Index) for free.
This will help reduce the overall cost of the construction.
However, the developer will have to get the rentals approved by the government so that it’s lesser than the prevailing market rates.
Commenting on the development, Secretary of Urban Development and Urban Housing Lochan Sehra said, “The central government had announced the ARHC scheme and the state government is all set to replicate it in Gujarat.”
He added, “While the benefit of the same can be availed by the EWS and LIG segment, the same will be passed on to the students too. This will not only boost the real estate sector but will increase projects in industrial and educational areas like the knowledge corridor in Gandhinagar, etc.”
According to the realty experts, the scheme would have been better if the government would have announced heavy subsidies for the construction under this category.
Yogesh Bhavsar, senior vice president of NAREDCO, a registered real estate developers’ body, told Mirror, “We welcome the government’s initiative as it will allow many developers to get into active mode. The scheme’s maximum benefit will be seen in industrial areas like Sanand, Kalol and Santej.”
However, he stressed, “Considering the cost of land in the municipal corporation and urban development authority areas, rental projects in urban areas don’t seem viable.”
