Housing for all CII formula

Housing for All : CII formula Dr J D Bapat The prevailing high interest rate has dampened the overall demand and has severely affected the purchasing power for housing , thus making it a distant dream of a common man. The 5% subsidy approved by the Union Cabinet, Government of India, for Economically Weaker Section(EWS) and Low Income Group (LIG) is thus a move in the right direction which will serve the twin objective of providing much needed relief to general masses and at the same time boosting demand in the economy. The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has called for supplementary measures to further strengthen it. The cost and the availability of the land is a major bottleneck in making housing affordable. Land is limited in cities and cost of land is growing exponentially. There is, therefore, an urgent need to increase the supply of land at affordable prices. CII has particularly suggested: Increase the Municipal Limits of the Existing Cities : The city centers in India are already saturated in terms of space and capacity of infrastructure. The land that is available in the necessary magnitude is in the periphery of the cities. In order increase the supply of land, one of the most effective solutions is to increase the municipal limits of the existing cities. However, this needs to followed with a very committed, time-bound programme to upgrade the infrastructure of the expanded areas, particularly the accessibility through public transport. Simplify the process of conversion of land from agricultural to residential/ commercial : The land that is available in periphery of cities most of the time is agriculture land.The development of a residential project in such areas would require the conversion of land from agricultural to residential/ commercial. This process represents a major procedural bottleneck and needs simplification. Provide infrastructure status to Integrated Township Development: Another measure would be to encourage development of tier II and III cities and the construction of integrated satellite townships. The supply of well developed and commercially viable supply of land would bring down the prices in the current markets. A major recommendation in this respect is to provide infrastructure status to Integrated Township Development. Relax Floor Space Index (FSI) policy with a thrust to develop existing infrastructure: The FSI policy, if liberal, could open up a supply of land in the existing city centers. Allocate specific land in the Master Plan for economically weaker section (EWS) of the community: This land could be made available at a reasonable rate to developers to build affordable housing meant for economically weaker section of the society. In addition to the above, CII has also suggested that government should consider either waiving off or substantially reducing the stamp duty for EWS and also promotion of appropriate low cost housing technologies. With the phenomenal increase in population and urbanisation, the shortage of housing is expected to increase from 24.7 million dwelling units in 2007 to 26.5 dwelling units by 2011. 90% of the shortage of housing is in the urban segment. Any fillip to this segment of housing will spur economic activities, stimulate demand and generate employment. Question: What is your formula to make housing affordable to urban middle class ?