MoU to be signed soon

MUMBAI, July 21: The state government's bid to revitalise the Slum Redevelopment Scheme (SRD) through the newly launched Shivshahi Punarv...

MUMBAI, July 21: The state government’s bid to revitalise the Slum Redevelopment Scheme (SRD) through the newly launched Shivshahi Punarvasan Prakalp (SSPP) will get a major boost on July 24, when private construction firms will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the proposed SSPP company.

At a special meeting between the state government’s housing department and the construction industry at the Y B Chavan Centre on Tuesday, the government sought a “public-private partnership” for the ambitious scheme, which envisages construction of two lakh houses in its first phase. State Housing Minister Sureshdada Jain, housing secretary V P Raja, the proposed SSP company’s Managing director G S Gill, and managing director of Akruti Nirman Pvt Ltd Vimal Shah, were among the panelists at the meeting. Various associations, including Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry, Slum Developers’ Association, Builders’ Association of India, besides private contractors, builders, developers and leading architects, cementsuppliers and quarry owners were also reportedly present.

Jain reportedly announced that financial institutions like the Housing Development and Finance Corporation (HDFC) and Housing and Urban Development Corporation would back the SSPP. It was also learnt that financial institutions like IDBI and ICICI have also shown interest in the project.

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Among those to sign on the dotted line on Friday will be HDFC, HUDCO, former Mumbai sheriff S K Choudhary’s Choudhary and Choudhary Construction company and various housing industry associations.

However, construction industry sources said developers are throwing in their lot with the SSPP because of the slump in the real estate. And unlike in SRD, where builders were developers and could sell the free sale component, here, builders will only act as contractors. Though the Housing Minister promised total transparency in the SSPP, construction industry sources point out that nitty-gritties like putting into place drainage and other facilities for the constructedprojects are yet to be decided. Also, the government needs to tie up loose ends, they add. The government has said construction of two lakh tenements in 18 months will require a transit camp of 50,000 tenements, which according to some builders is too high an estimate. Also, the options before the SSPP are whether to sell extra FSI to other developers, to construct free sale component flats and sell it in the open market, or to sell a piece of land to developers and recover costs. It was also learnt that the 75,000 houses earmarked for the low income group and to be built for free sale will be the first casualty, and the freed land may be handed over to developers in prime areas.