The Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) will prioritise redevelopment of three-decade-old complexes it built over identifying new land for fresh projects. However, it will explore the land pooling route for establishing new townships.
TNHB has hardly acquired land parcels in the past one decade because of the prohibitive cost. So it proposes to exploit the available land by roping in the owners to re-develop dilapidated TNHB colonies.
Minister for housing and urban development S Muthusamy said quality of upcoming housing projects was paramount. “I have asked the TNHB to give priority to redeveloping dilapidated housing units within a timeframe rather than looking for new land parcels for housing projects. The housing secretary is taking steps in this regard,” he said.
The Minister was addressing the gathering at CREDAI’s property expo FAIRPRO, where an insurance scheme covering more than 1 lakh construction labourers and real estate vision 2030 were launched. Briefing newspersons on the sidelines of the event, he said redevelopment required the cooperation of the existing owners and the TNHB would hold discussions with them.
There were problems in acquiring land outright for new townships, he said adding that . “We understand that the land pooling scheme was effective to source land for townships.”
Regarding the expansion of the Chennai Metropolitan Area, he said it would be taken up in a phased manner. The initial expansion will not be as robust as originally proposed.
“The process of expansion is expected to be completed in another month,” he said.
On providing alternative housing for encroachers evicted from 164 acres of wetland at Injambakkam on court orders, the minister said 55 acres of grazing land at Bethel Nagar in Injambakkam could be used for the purpose.