The state government is planning to build houses in urban areas for the economically weaker sections (EWS). These flats will be available at Rs 3 lakh, if the project sees the light of day.
Sources said the government has mooted a proposal for affordable housing under which the EWS beneficiaries and BPL card holders will not have to pay more than 1,000 as equated monthly installment (EMI) while buying a house.
The low income groups (LIG) will get flats for 5 lakh with an EMI in the range of 2,400 to 2,600 per month. Currently, one BHK flats in cities such as Bhubaneswar are hardly available below 5 lakh.
The government also intends to earmark 40 per cent of the total land of affordable housing projects for the EWS. While 30 per cent of the total land of such projects would be for LIG, developers can use the rest 30 per cent for catering to middle income group (MIG), high income group (HIG) and commercial customers. The developers have to provide common bathroom and toilets in each block of EWS houses, sources said.
In the first phase, the government plans these affordable housing projects in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Angul, Puri, Balasore and Paradip. Other urban local bodies will be free to undertake such housing projects if viable, sources added.
The affordable housing policy plan comes at a time when the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (planning and building standards) amendment regulations 2012 proposes that apartment buildings and group housing projects will earmark at least 10 per cent of their construction area for making housing units for EWS/LIG categories. BDA would decide the cost and method of allotment of such houses
