Another housing, urban development policy soon

Maharashtra will have a new housing and urban development policy by November this year which will address all the contentious issues regarding housing and urban development, said chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Speaking at the one-day conference, Advantage Maharashtra, organised by the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) and Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India (CREDAI), the chief minister said the government would set up a task force to formulate the policy.

Deshmukh further said, "This task force will consist of bureaucrats, town planners, NGOs, environmentalists and builders and developers which will be convened in three day's time."

He also assured builders that the state government would initiate the process to repeal the Urban Land Ceiling Act (ULCA) soon, and said the government had given a commitment to the central government in this regard.

A uniform Development Control (DC) rules will be introduced across the state, the chief minister noted.

Making a presentation on behalf of the industry, convener of the conference, Lalit Kumar Jain said, "Currently the housing industry is covered by 22 Acts and has to obtain 56 permissions and no objection certificates. This increases the cost by Rs 100 to Rs 500 per square metre. We expect that the government will come out with a single window clearance system for housing projects and a single Act."

Jain added, "DC rules should be the same across the state - some aspects of DCR in Pune are beneficial to the industry but in some aspects Mumbai scores over other cities. So if we have to have a uniform DC rules across the state, governing floor space index (FSI), transferable development rights (TDR) and slum rehabilitation rules.

Pointing out that the Andhra Pradesh government has done away with the FSI concept for New Hydrabad City, he said similar policy can be adopted in Mumbai and Pune where there is scarcity of quality land and prices of real estate have gone through roof.