Mumbai has acquired quite a reputation as an unforgiving real estate market and even the state housing body – the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has been struggling to deliver on its affordable housing promise, while grappling with a shrinking land bank and rising costs. But now, MHADA is embarking on a renewed push into the affordable housing segment, with plans to launch nearly 95 thousand low-cost homes in Mumbai over the next few years. NDTV’s Ankita Sinha caught up with S.S. Zende, Vice President & CEO, MHADA in an exclusive chat to understand the agency’s strategy. Below are edited excerpts:

Ankita: You have been struggling to find land to build affordable housing, while also dealing with rising input costs. Yet, you are now planning on launching 95,000 affordable homes. How are you planning on doing that?

S.S Zende: The housing shortage in India is well known. While this is an issue across the country, it is more so in Mumbai. A lot of people come here almost every day and every month in search of jobs. They do get jobs, they do get a livelihood but there is never a guarantee of house. Our main focus is in finding affordable homes for these people. Our first target will be to acquire government lands with a residential zoning. Once we have exhausted government land in an area, we will try and acquire private land parcels.

Ankita: How many acres of land have you identified so far and when do you expect to start work on the building these homes?

S.S Zende: We have so far identified about 190 hectares of land. We have identified big chunks of land around the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, in areas like Panvel, Kalyan, Bhiwandi, Pen, Vasai and Palghar to build homes for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Lower Income Group categories (LIG). We are in the process of finalising and getting the details of the reservation status of the land. Once that is done in say about a week or 10 days, we will actually formulate these projects and submit it to the government for final administrative approval.

Ankita: What will be the size and pricing of these homes?

S.S Zende: It all depends on how much FSI we will be utilising there. FSI utilisation on a particular building or a piece of land has a direct linkage with the pricing of a unit. For instance, if we are utilizing all 2.5 FSI, then the building will be a high-rise project and the tenement cost will go up. However, we are trying to keep the cost of EWS and LIG tenements at around 20 lakh rupees so that the poor people can afford it.

Ankita: In the past, MHADA has also constructed many projects for Higher Income Group (HIG). Will that be the case in the upcoming projects as well?

S.S Zende: We will first cater to the EWS and LIG categories. That is our focus. However, government policy allows you to keep some units aside for the HIG category as well so that the project becomes viable. These flats are sold at a higher rate and are used to cross-subsidise flats for the lower-income groups.

Ankita: We have seen private builders coming up with low-cost homes too in the areas you have identified so far. How will MHADA’s projects be different from theirs?

S.S Zende: MHADA’s project will more or less be the same; but our pricing will be lesser than the private builders because we are trying to use government lands as much as possible. The private builders’ pricing will include land price as well. But, if we succeed in getting big chunks of government land, our pricing will be on the lower side. While the input and construction costs for our projects and those of a private builder may be the same, whatever concession we get from building on government land will be passed onto the people in the LIG and EWS categories.