The chief minister, on Saturday, had asked developers to focus on constructing affordable housing
After chief minister Devendra Fadnavis asked developers to focus on constructing affordable housing, builders have said there should be enough infrastructure and connectivity around the city and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) region for them to invest in land, as this is the only way to boost the real estate sector of the city.
The state government’s announcement of coming out with its own version of the ‘Housing For All’ policy by 2022 in the next 15 days has not gone down well with developers in the city.
Mr Fadnavis on Saturday asked developers to focus on constructing affordable housing rather than only focusing on the premium segment.
Bandish Ajmera, MCHI-CREDAI exhibition organising committee member, said, “Everyone is asking developers to focus on affordable housing today, but to construct affordable houses there should be enough infrastructure and connectivity around the city and Mumbai MMR region.”
He further added, “The government needs to understand that it should first develop favourable infrastructure to boost the real estate sector. It is taking it years to construct Metro corridors for the city of Mumbai. In this case, how does it expect realtors to invest for construction of affordable housing Also, the government should define what affordable housing actually is.”
Mr. Fadnavis on Saturday had expressed his disappointment that houses worth less than Rs 1 crore were not available in Mumbai.
Earlier this week, housing minister Prakash Mehta had also asked realty developers to develop more affordable houses within the city. Dipesh Bhagtani, executive director, Jaycee Homes, said, “The amount of direct and indirect taxes developers in the city are paying is discouraging them to invest more in property today. If the state wants developers to built affordable housing, it should come up with the Development Plan (DP), which is being delayed. Once the DP is out, we will know what the government is planning and how its policy would be, which will help us to have clearer picture in our mind for us to make investments in the city.”
Meanwhile, the defence ministry and state government have entered an agreement that will allow land under the ministry’s possession in Mumbai to be used for construction for affordable housing.
Apart from this, the Maharashtra government also plans to use salt pan land, airport authority land and Bombay Port Trust land for construction of affordable housing in the city.
