MHADA’s annual lottery has been a disappointment in the last few years, with fewer than 1,500 houses being made available. (Representational image)Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has decided to construct 8,000 to 10,000 homes for its Mumbai Board lottery. A senior officer from MHADA said the construction of homes will be completed by 2020-21.
MHADA’s annual lottery has been a disappointment in the last few years, with fewer than 1,500 houses being made available. The demand for these homes is so high that MHADA received 1.64 lakh applications for 1,395 homes in 2018. In 2017, there were only 819 homes in the lottery, and the year before, the number stood at 810.
Sources said the main reason for the dwindling number of homes is the shortage of land. Now, on directions from Mumbai Board Chief Officer, Deependra Singh Kushwaha, executive engineers of five different divisions of MHADA have identified 20 land parcels.
“We are a Special Planning Authority. We can develop small land parcels for benefit of common people,” a senior official from MHADA said, adding that the agency could construct up to 2,500 homes on these 20 parcels of land.
Apart from this, there is also MHADA’s ongoing project in Goregaon’s Pahadi village, which will have 6,000 homes and will be completed by 2022, the official said.
MHADA had earlier planned that its redevelopment of 56 colonies would yield housing stock. But of the 104 proposals submitted to MHADA, and out of which 63 have obtained NOC, none have a housing stock plan. All the proposals are for paying premium to MHADA instead of giving houses, the official said.
“So we are planning to use these premiums to construct new homes,” the official said, warning that if more land parcels are not found, it may become difficult to hold the lottery after two years.
