Mumbai: Developers have welcomed the boost to affordable housing in the DP 2034. The State government has made a provision for construction of 10 lakh affordable homes on 2,400 hectares of land in Special Development Zones in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The land bank comprises 2,100 hectares in No Development Zones (NDZs) and 300 hectares of salt pan land.
While up to 5 lakh houses will be constructed in Greater Mumbai, the remaining will come up in the outer areas of the city, government officials said. With this, the government hopes for a major correction in real estate prices.
Anshuman Magazine, Chairman, India and South East Asia, CBRE, said, “It will prove to be a game changer for the Mumbai real estate market. With significant part of the land earmarked for affordable housing development, this segment will witness increased activity.”
The DP, he said, will stimulate the residential as well as commercial real estate market. “Real estate developers as well as investors who were sitting on the fence will now look at developing projects, as the Plan lifts curbs on FSI in the city.”
Niranjan Hiranandani, national President, NAREDCO, said the DP 2034 is “a serious effort to ensure that affordable homes get constructed within a reasonably short time by opening up various categories of land on which such construction was earlier not allowed.”
Rohit Poddar, Managing Director, Poddar Housing and Development Ltd, said, “This is a much-awaited initiative which had been in the pipeline since last year. The DP 2034 has addressed the biggest challenge in Mumbai, which is to provide enough land. With a firm focus on affordable housing it proposes to unlock public and privately-owned lands, currently tagged as no development zones, to push low-cost housing and augment social amenities.”