The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) has decided to involve private builders in construction of affordable housing for the poor and middle class people under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (Urban) to realise the objective of Prime Minister Narendra Modi — ‘Housing for all by 2022’.
On Monday, the Ministry approved construction of 30,000 affordable houses for urban poor on private land at Solapur, Maharashtra, under the PMAY.
According to officials of HUA Ministry, the Ministry has approved a proposal from Raynagar Cooperative Housing Federation of Solapur to build 30,000 affordable houses for its members, mostly beedi and textile workers and other urban poor belonging to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) at a total cost of Rs 1,811 crore under PMAY(Urban).
For this, the Centre will provide an assistance of Rs 450 crore. The State Government after due examination agreed to provide an assistance of Rs 300 crore for the same and forwarded the proposal to the Ministry in March last year.
This is the first time private sectors are being involved in the affordable housing for urban poor and middle class under PMAY-Urban. An official said private sector will have to form a housing society, and then submit a proposal to the Ministry for approval.
Venkaiah Naidu, then HUA Minister and now vice president candidate, had earlier announced the entry of private sector in the PMAY last month.
“The PMAY scheme, which aims to provide houses to all poor by 2022, is so far applicable to affordable housing projects, built on lands belonging to the State or municipal corporations. Now, affordable housing projects can be built on private land. This will also boost the real sector,” said the official.
During a meeting, officials of the Maharashtra Government informed the HUA Ministry that the cost of each dwelling unit of Rs 6,03,777 has been determined in a transparent manner and with Central and State assistance with the delivery price to be Rs 3,53,777 per house. Central assistance of Rs 1.50 lakh for each beneficiary is provided under this component.
Maharashtra officials explained that the State-level Technical Committee (SlTC) set up under PMAY (Urban) has appraised the project and recommended for central funding. The ownership of land area of 189 hectares is with the Federation which has acquired this land for building the houses and it will be the implementing agency. All the proposed beneficiaries have been AADHAR linked.
Being the first of its kind, Secretary (HUA) Durga Shankar Mishra has ascertained Maharashtra officials about the ownership of land, compliance with the Mission Guidelines including the eligibility of beneficiaries, AADHAR linking, role of State Government and implementation oversight to ensure the proposed project is completed in time since funding by both the Central and State Governments is involved.
A senior official of the Ministry said the move is based on the large number of requests that the Ministry had received from people, who want to construct affordable housing projects on their own lands.
In fact, PMAY-Urban has been designed envisaging a bigger role for private sector, but it’s a cause of worry for the Government since no private sector participation has been enlisted under PMAY so far, said official.
The NDA Government has so far approved construction of 20,25,573 houses under PMAY-Urban in three years (2014-15) compared to 12,40,904 houses by the UPA Government during 2004-2014.
The Ministry has also approved of 2,84,803 more affordable houses for urban poor under PMAY. The total cost of these houses to be built in six States is Rs 16,407 crore for which Central assistance of Rs 4,272 crore has been approved. Andhra Pradesh has been sanctioned 2,25,245 houses, Uttar Pradesh-23,322, Tamil Nadu-15,374, Manipur-10,392, Assam-9,767 and Meghalaya-703.