Stakeholders in the construction sector have made a strong plea for increasing the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) in the city to offset the escalating price of housing brought about by spiralling real-estate prices.
Though Mysuru for long was considered an ideal destination for investment in housing by end-users and those scouting for a second-home option, the scenario has changed for the worse in the last few years.
With speculative investors buying huge swathes of land in a radius of 15 to 20 km of the city periphery, even the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) is finding it difficult to find land for development and distribution to site aspirants.
“The ongoing construction of independent and row houses in the city limits is by those who had purchased sites 10 years ago. But now, buying a site and constructing a house within the MCC limits is no longer economically feasible and is beyond the reach of the salaried class,” said Ravindra Bhat of the Builders Association of India.
But the erratic sand supply has resulted in slowdown in the construction sector and cost overruns due to delay in completion of the projects on hand.
“The shortage of sand has hit the construction sector and the prices have increased by at least 20 per cent to 25 per cent,” said Mr. Bhat. A view endorsed by other members of the BAI Mysuru centre, which has sought for an increase in the FAR for the city.
FAR is the permissible ratio of built area to the plot area and permission for higher FAR results in lowering of the unit cost, argue the builders. “The cost of an apartment will come down by 20 per cent to 30 per cent if the FAR is higher in the city and this will benefit the salaried class and also help meet the housing aspirations of the public,” according to M.S. Ramprasad, also of the BAI, Mysuru chapter.
He argued for an higher FAR and reasoned that 50 per cent of the cost of apartment is for the land value and when the FAR goes up the cost of land computed in construction cost comes down significantly as more units can be built.
Mr. Bhat explained that the cost of a 1200 sq ft apartment will come down from around Rs. 36 lakh to roughly Rs. 28 lakh if the FAR was increased.
The BAI, CREDAI and other stakeholders have approached the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and the State government for a higher FAR for Mysuru, which is pegged at between 1.25 to 1.5 as against an FAR of 2.5 to 3 in places like Mangaluru. But the authorities have not responded to such demands so far.
