25,000 affordable homes by 2018

SPPL, a body that was revived, is considering proposals of 8 developers

If things go according to plan, Shivshahi Prakalp Limited (SPPL) will come up with 25,000 affordable houses in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) by 2018, in joint development agreement with private developers and landlords who own the land.

SPPL is considering the plans of eight out of the 30 developers who had submitted proposals to build affordable houses.

The development comes after the state government decided to revive SPPL in order to meet its target of building 19 lakh houses in the state by 2022. SPPL is a state-owned company that was launched by former housing minister Suresh Jain back in 1998.

Speaking to The Asian Age, Debashish Chakraborty, managing director, SPPL, said, “We have identified 400 acres of land in MMR and are considering eight proposals from the private developers which are feasible for constructing affordable housing. We will consult Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (Hudco) for helping us in evaluating the actual value of the land and Hudco will also provide loans to private developers at lower interest rate when compared to the market rate to fund the project. The reason behind funding private developers is to push projects of private sector in collaboration with public bodies to create maximum housing stock.”

He further added, “The proposals for land are mainly from developers and landlords from Panvel, Kalyan, Karjat, Shil and Turbhe. There are a couple of plots in Panvel which together measure around 250 acres and we are planning to construct a township hub in this case. We are anticipating that the construction work for the same should be starting in next two or three months and we should be ready with flats for the same by the end of 2018.”

It was earlier reported by The Asian Age, that Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) will build one lakh affordable homes in two phases on the state government’s land under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme.

A official from SPPL, on condition of anonymity, said, “SPPL could not contribute much to the housing sector of the state in the past 17 years as the BJP at that time did not like the way it was being formed and also the previous Congress-NCP government was not much interested in reviving it.”

However, Sachin Ahir, former housing minister, said, “If the government is thinking of reviving SPPL and create affordable homes it is a good idea, but SPPL lacks credibility and skills and I doubt whether it will be able to come up with what is being promised.”

According to SPPL, the developers in the identified region are cuurently granted Floor Space Index (FSI) up to 1, but the potential improvements in granting more FSI around 3 or 4 will have a positive impact on maximum generation of affordable homes.