The Builders Association of India (BAI) has sought the Chief Minister, Mr Prithviraj Chavan's intervention in redevelopment of old and dilapidated housing societies, and also those in the MHADA layout, besides rehabilitation of slum dwellers.
In a letter to Mr Chavan, the BAI has claimed that redevelopment projects in all Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) layouts have come to a grinding halt and no proposals under the new policy have come up since last September as proposals under changed policy are not at all commercially viable.
Moreover, the aim with which the policy is being implemented is not serving any purpose as no housing society is willing to opt for area sharing formula, the association said in a statement.
Considering these facts, there is an urgent need to change the 2:1 ratio and adopt a premium basis policy as per the provisions of the DC Regulation 33(5)2-c-(ii) for redevelopment of Mhada colonies and generate finance for creating more affordable housing stocks, the release said.
The apex body of builders and contractors also notes that the task of taking up and completing redevelopment projects of old and dilapidated buildings and giving houses to the poor in existing Mhada layouts and to generate revenue for the authority is not difficult provided workable policies are adopted.
The matter was already referred to the Housing department principal secretary in September, and similarly, addressed to Mhada chairman and also to Mhada vice-president, it said.
The Association's General Treasurer, Mr Anand J. Gupta, said a majority of buildings owned by co-operative housing societies are old and dilapidated and thus, uninhabitable. Among these are Mhada's 56 colonies comprising 3,701 buildings accommodating 1,11,659 tenements. Some of them have already been redeveloped and some are in the process.
To augment redevelopment in Mhada layouts, the Government modified the provisions of DC Regulation 33(5) in December 2009 to enhance the available FSI to 2.5 for all Mhada layouts with certain terms and conditions.
The Chief Minister has been urged to intervene and provide the necessary directions to the concerned authorities to analyse and take an audit of the present policy so as to clear the deadlock in the redevelopment of Mhada properties, Mr Gupta said.