BAI to construct low-cost housing, if govt releases land

Mumbai, Apr 21 (UNI) The Builders' Association of India--Mumbai Centre (BAI), today asid that low-cost housing could be constructed in the salt land in and around the city if the state government released some 1,200 acres for property development.

Addressing journalists here today, BAI vice-president D L Desai said, ''after the releasing the salt lands in the city for development, the government could stipulate that a certain percentage should be used for building low-cost housing for the poorer sections of society.'' ''On the land reserved for the poor, the builders can build houses for lower income group with the price fixed by the government,'' said Mr. Desai, adding, ''though, builders will incur substantial loss, they can develop houses at market rates on the remaining land to offset the losses.'' Replying to a question on why construction costs were sky-rocketing, Mr Desai indicated that cement prices 'which have been rising steeply since January', was one of the main reasons. Similarly, the recent Supreme Court judgement that overloading will no longer be allowed on trucks while transporting cement has pushed up the transportation costs of cement, he said.

BAI-Mumbai centre's newly-elected chairman Anand J Gupta, who interacted with journalists, describing the state government's slum redevelopment scheme as 'laudable', highlighted various 'in-built problems' in the scheme.

He criticised the tendency of the slum dwellers to sell their government-given flats and go elsewhere and create new slums. ''This should be curtailed totally,'' he pointed out.

Besides, their tendency to transfer the tenancy to any other person has to be disallowed by levying a heavy price and penalty, he said, adding that the government must maintain its policy of a cut-off line of 1995-built slums to be eligible for the rehabilitation scheme.

Calling upon the government to undertake the scheme through its own contractors, Mr Gupta said, ''instead of giving the houses on ownership basis to the dwellers, these flats should be rented out and the maintenance be taken over by the government.'' On the subject of raising funds for developing infrastructure in Mumbai city, Mr Gupta called for allotment of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) equivalent to the cost of these constructions to the builders who come forward to build these infrastructure.

''This is one sure way to raise funds for these constructions and builders will also be encouraged to take up these projects on obtaining equivalent TDR in the extended city and suburbs,'' he averred.

UNI JJ PP SKB2005