Mhada Office. Mumbai: Even as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis-led state government has set an ambitious target of constructing nearly 19 lakh low cost houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the scheme has received over 23 lakh applications across the state. The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority claims that 11 projects in the Konkan region have received all approvals.
However, these are not the final applications since their eligibility is yet to be decided. A senior MHADA official told the Free Press Journal that work has started in two of the projects out of the 11 projects in the Konkan region. “Contracts for Two of the projects in Khoni and Shirdhon has already been awarded and the construction work has started. More than 8,000 affordable houses will be constructed in these projects.”
The official added that these houses will be priced anywhere between Rs 10-14 lakh. 80 per cent of these houses are for the economically weaker section (EWS). The household income of the beneficiaries of the PMAY scheme should not be more than Rs 25,000, and the unit on sale will be between 30 square metre. and 60 square metre. A subsidy of Rs 2.5 lakh for each EWS buyer will be jointly shared by the Centre and State.
Most of the houses in the Konkan division are around 30 square metre which equals to 322 square foot flat area. Another official said, “We are waiting for the state government to approve some of our requests. It had recently approved to allow a Floor Space Index of 2.5 for the construction of these projects. The beneficiaries from the EWS section will only pay for the construction cost of the project.”
Also read: Mumbai: MMRDA uncertain about nod to MHADA on housing project
Due to land scarcity, not a single location in Mumbai was proposed MHADA for constructing homes under PMAY. However, with its recent scheme to give loans to SRA projects that are stalled, the authority has a better chance to get affordable homes in Mumbai.
The SRA developers that are opting for loans from the government to complete their project will have to construct a specific number of affordable houses. There are a total of 94 realty projects for construction of affordable housing in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Nanded and Aurangabad.
