KOLKATA: With the task force on affordable housing suggesting revisions in the eligibility criteria for affordable housing schemes, Bengal is likely to witness a huge growth in demand for such residential units. Already the state has an estimated shortage of 12 lakh residential units for economically weaker section and medium income group.
The task force has suggested an upward revision of the income ceilings to Rs 8,000 per month against Rs 5,000 per month earlier. Since many residents belonging to the economically weaker section do not have regular income, the task force also proposed to consider those with an annual income of Rs 1 lakh in that case.
For the low income group, the task force recommended a revision in the ceiling from Rs 5,000-10,000 to Rs 8,000-10,000 per month, translating into an annual income of around Rs 2 lakh. It said that for cities and urban centres having a population of more than a million, state governments could consider an increase of up to a maximum of 25% on the recommended household income levels.
The estimates with the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation show that West Bengal had a shortage of more than 12 lakh units in 2012. Apart from the 5% demand coming from medium income group, rest of the demand for housing is from economically weaker section and middle income group.
According to Debashis Sen, secretary of the state’s urban development department, “We have been seeing huge demand for affordable housing across the state. Recently we invited applications for residential units in Rajarhat for the economically weaker section and have received more than 3,000 applications for 297 units.”
So far the state government has completed 74,000 dwelling units under JNNURM — the highest in the region. The state government has asked the central ministry of urban development for a permission to revise the project cost to prevailing market prices.
In a recent report, global real estate consultant Jones Lang LaSalle mentioned that if land is acquired at a cost of Rs 150-250 per sq ft, an affordable housing project with basic amenities (with construction cost of Rs 800-1,000 per sq ft) would result in a minimum selling price of Rs 1,400-1,700 per sq ft. The construction cost forms nearly 50-60% of the total selling price for affordable housing.
Source: The Times of India