Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana: PMRDA to build over 6,000 homes in first lot
Published: April 16, 2018 3:32:06 am
The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) for urban areas that is being implemented by the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) in the city and surrounding areas will create 6,415 dwellings in the first lot. Seven housing firms have submitted bids to build the houses under the scheme in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. The Chief Executive Officer, PMRDA, Kiran Gitte, said the tender process for the scheme closed on April 13 and bids were opened with seven firms agreeing to partner with the PMRDA for the construction of affordable houses.
“We have formed a committee to assess and evaluate the bids. The committee has five members of whom two are from the MHADA and three from the PMRDA,” said Gitte. He said only those construction firms, which were ready to provide 50 per cent of the housing units in affordable rates, as decided by the MHADA, were eligible to apply. The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) is the state government agency charged with creating dwellings for affordable rates in urban areas.
“If they are ready to make 50 per cent of the housing units, built as per the affordability criteria fixed by the MHADA and if the project land is as per RFP rules, then they are eligible to enter into this partnership. Those who will be selected will get 2.5 FSI (Floor Space Index) for the projects making them financially viable,” said Gitte.
Although the PMAY was launched in June 2015, initially it was limited only for the rural areas. In December 2017, the scheme was extended to include urban areas. At the same time, the state government gave the responsibility to implement the scheme in Pune district to the PMRDA, along with the Pune Municipal Corporation and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). Gitte said first-time home buyers can fill up forms that are to be made available online. The PMRDA will connect them to banks for further processes to avail the PMAY benefits. Gitte added that the PMRDA is planning to open a “one window system” for obtaining all legal go-ahead and plan approvals in an attempt to speed-up the projects.
“The projects will also get a waiver regarding paying the stamp duty. We will also provide the basic common facilities outside the project boundaries, like roads, water, electricity and transport,” said Gitte. Earlier this year, Gitte had said that the PMRDA was planning to tap the pool of unsold flats with private developers. He had said there were as many as 167 ongoing projects with a total of 2.58 lakh apartments. Under the PMAY, the government aims at building affordable pucca houses with round-the-clock water supply, sanitation and electricity. The scheme was originally meant to cover people in the EWS (annual income not exceeding Rs 3 lakh) and LIG (annual income not exceeding Rs 6 lakh) brackets. But now, it covers the mid-income group (MIG) as well.
Source : The Indian Express
