HDIL, MMRDA to develop low rent homes in Mumbai suburb

HDIL, MMRDA to develop low rent homes in Mumbai suburb
The Hindu Business Line, June 3, 2009, Page 2

Our Bureau, Mumbai

Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) and the Mumbai Metropolitan Development Authority (MMRDA) have joined hands to develop a residential-cum-commercial complex in Virar (a suburb on the Western Railway line, about 60 km by train from Churchgate) across 525 acres.

This is part of an endeavour to provide low-cost rental housing in the Mumbai metropolitan region.

HDIL will provide the land, while related social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, community centres, playgrounds and police stations will be taken care of by MMRDA. The project, which is about 2 km from the Virar railway station, will be connected by a skywalk.

Mr Sarang Wadhawan, Managing Director of HDIL, said at a press conference here on Tuesday that the project cost, spread over six years, would be about Rs 7,000 crore. He declined to elaborate on the financial model, but reiterated that it would be funded through internal accruals without any debt.

Mr Wadhawan said that 43,000 units with a carpet area of 160 sq ft each, totalling 13 million sq ft of built-up area, would be given to MMRDA for rental housing free of cost. The first phase will see 10,000 units handed over by March 2011.

According to him, the total development on the 525 acres would be 56 million sq ft of built-up area to be completed in four phases by 2015. Nearly 90,000 units aggregating 39 million sq ft (built-up area) would be sold in the open market.

He said construction of 20,000 tenements for the open market would kick off within 60 days. These will range from 520 to 780 sq ft and will be priced in line with market levels.

Implementing projects

MMRDA will be the project implementing authority, while the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (Cidco) would be the special planning authority.

Mr Ratnakar Gaikwad, Commissioner of MMRDA, said that tenements would target the low- and middle-income groups. “It will serve as temporary accommodation for someone who has come to Mumbai for work. The rents will vary from Rs 800 to Rs 1,400,” he said.

On the difference in the model adopted for Virar and the Dharavi redevelopment project, Mr Gaikwad said that the latter was a curative project as it would remove slums from the city.

In contrast, the Virar plan would prevent slums from coming up as it was intended to provide cheap housing.