Even as Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) is in the process of finalising details of its annual lottery of affordable houses for 2013, as per its initial estimates, there are likely to be about 1,000-1,100 homes for sale for its Mumbai board this year.
Although MHADA has been struggling with shrinking land bank in Mumbai, the number of houses expected to be put up for sale this year is at least 15 to 25 per cent more than last year, when thousands of prospective home buyers were vying for 867 houses in Mumbai.
“The lottery will be held as per schedule. A major chunk of these houses will be in Powai. There was a problem in getting a commencement certificate for these houses earlier, but that has been sorted now. The rest will be in areas such as Borivali and Malwani,” said Satish Gavai, vice-president and chief executive officer at MHADA.
In Powai, the houses are being constructed on a plot a part of which is reserved for a Municipal Training Institute. To get timely commencement certificate, MHADA has agreed to construct and hand over that portion to the civic body and build houses on the rest of the plot.
According to officials from MHADA’s Mumbai board, there will be about 600 to 700 homes on the plot in Powai, 232 in Malwani, 126 in Charkop and 62 in Magathane, Borivali for the 2013 lottery.
However, in a dampener for some looking to buy a flat in the city, there will be no houses for the middle-income and high-income group categories. All the 1,000-odd homes likely to be sold in this lottery are being constructed for the economically weaker section (EWS) and the low-income group (LIG) categories.
As per MHADA’s norms that were applied in the 2012 lottery, a person with an income of less than Rs 8,000 per month is eligible for the draw under the economically weaker section category. A person with a monthly income between Rs 8,000 to Rs 20,000 per month is eligible for the LIG category.
MHADA rules define a person as middle income-group as someone with a monthly income of Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000. A person with a monthly income of above Rs 40,000 falls in the higher-income group category.
Source: Manasi Phadke, http://www.indianexpress.com
