The group housing scheme and multi-storey apartments mooted by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) has suffered a setback as the government has stipulated new norms including restrictions on investment by the authority.
This has put the MUDA on tenterhooks as it was contemplating a foray into affordable apartments and group housing schemes to meet the housing demand in the city.
Sources in the MUDA told The Hindu that it had a proposal to construct nearly 2,000 houses under various schemes on the MUDA land within the city. The areas identified were Dattagalli, Vijayanagar 4th stage and Hinkal in the first phase.
“We planned to make an initial investment following which the rest of the capital required was to be raised by inviting applications for new houses by house aspirants who were to be asked to remit the balance of amount in a phase-wise manner,” said the official.
But authorities in Bengaluru stipulated that the MUDA could not invest more than 15 per cent of the project cost including the cost of land acquisition. This has upset the MUDA calculations as the construction cost itself was pegged at around ₹2000 per sqft for durable quality of building.
“If the MUDA contribution were to be pegged at 15 per cent including the cost of land acquisition, then it has to raise funds almost entirely from the house aspirants or opt for PPP model,” said the official.
Sources suspected that the norms were perhaps introduced to insure the MUDA against poor demand and cited the experience of the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) units which remained unsold for years and even the investors had refused to move in owing to pathetic quality of construction.
But MUDA officials say the authority has set standards for quality as far as plot development was concerned and it was evident in R.T. Nagar and other new layouts. Hence it was keen on emulating the same for its foray into multi-storey apartment buildings as well but the new norms has stopped the MUDA in its track.
Besides, the units in the project were to have spacious living rooms with modern amenities so as to entice the salaried category.
The cost for the low-income group and other categories for whom the apartment units had to be reserved as per policy norms, was to be kept low through cross-subsidisation.
“We have apprised the Minister for Urban Development of the issue and he has assured us to take a call on it after the byelections are over,” according to officials.
The MUDA conducted a demand survey for the group housing concept some time ago. It was targeted at end users and not investors and the project evoked positive response.
The group housing projects are increasingly perceived to be a solution to overcome land crunch as nearly 120 sites of various dimensions can be developed on an 8-acre plot as against nearly 1,000 units under the group housing scheme.