To expedite the construction of houses under the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), the state government has added the name of Maharashtra Housing Development Corporation (MahaHousing) to the existing list of government bodies with whom joint ventures can be carried out for completion of the housing projects.
The state government had formed MahaHousing with a primary objective of constructing five lakh affordable houses across the state by 2022.
Earlier, in September, the state government had given its nod for a JV with Mhada and private landowners.
As per the clearance granted by the state cabinet, the JV can be carried out within the limits of all the 382 municipal corporations, councils, nagar panchayats, the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, region development authority at Pune as well as Nagpur, Cidco, MSRDC, Nagpur Improvement Trust and the Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area jurisdiction.
As per the norms, the private parties holding land measuring more than 10 acre are eligible for going ahead with a JV with any of these civic or government bodies for construction of houses under the PMAY.
Based on the demand for housing under PMAY (urban), the states or the Union Territories formulate project proposals and they are approved by the state chief secretary, following which, the proposal is submitted to the ministry for approval of central assistance.
As per the figures obtained from the Centre’s ministry of housing and urban affairs, between 2014 and February 2020, a total of 1,014 project proposals were considered for Maharashtra. Since inception, the central government has sanctioned Rs 18, 312 crores, out of which Rs 6, 404 have been released for the execution of work in the state. A total of 11,77,084 houses have been sanctioned in this duration, while 4,82,976 houses have been grounded for construction, while 2,85,330 houses have been completed.
Authorities at the secretariat said that the state is lagging way behind its target of constructing 19 lakh affordable homes under this scheme by 2020. The latest move is aimed at meeting the targets. “Apart from identifying the genuine beneficiaries, the biggest challenge for the implementation of the scheme remains the availability of land,” said the officer.
Under PMAY, the central government provides assistance between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh per dwelling while the state contributes Rs 1 lakh. The government allots the land at the rate of Rs 1 per square metre with Rs 1,000 charged as the stamp duty. The scheme has recently also involved developers under a PPP model. The state government has also waived the required security deposit for affordable housing meant for the economically weaker sections. There are other schemes like beneficiary-linked construction (BLC) and credit-linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) under which the state is trying to create affordable housing stock.
