Chennai would require Rs 2,000 crore and 700 acres of land for rehabilitating slum dwellers, said Vikram Kapur, member – secretary, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority.
Currently 19 per cent of city’s population lives in slum.
Addressing a seminar on ‘Housing for All’ organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the Confederation of Real Estate Developer’s Associations, he said the city's population stood at 7.04 million (2001), which was projected to be 12.58 million in 2026. Though the projected housing demand was 1.23 million up to 2026, the present supply is 60,000 dwelling units a year.
The annual estimated demand in Chennai for the economically weaker section/low income group (EWS/LIG) housing is 30,000 units, for slum rehabilitation it is 55,000 (over 3 years) and pavement dwellers 15,000 units (in one year). The cost of construction is estimated at Rs 2,500 crore per annum.
Of this, the Tamil Nadu Housing Board and the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board are expected to deliver 20 per cent of projected EWS/LIG housing need and the balance 80,000 would be developed by private builders and cooperatives.
Earlier in his keynote address, Surjit K Chaudhary, principal secretary, state housing and urban development corporation, said, “builders are running only after profit and they target only high-end customers.”
He also said developers were not taking care of environmental issues properly while promoting a project. He urged the builders to focus on sustainability issues including sanitation, sewage disposal and physical infrastructure like roads before venturing into any projects.
Gayathri Sriram, chairperson, CII Chennai zone, said there was an urgent need to create an eco system, which can happen with public-private partnership in housing, education and healthcare among others.
TNHB managing director DP Yadav said the board was keen on promoting affordable housing along with private players and had identified 4-5 properties.
