Town Planning Scheme: Kalyan growth centre will also have affordable housing : The Indian Express

The Maharashtra government has set a steep target of creating 19 lakh affordable houses in the state by 2022 under its ‘Housing for All’ initiative. 

THE ambitious growth centre proposed in Kalyan, approved by the chief minister last week will also have an affordable housing component though the focus would be largely on commercial development. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will set aside 10 per cent of the total land it will have to acquire for the growth centre for housing economically weaker sections. The Kalyan growth centre will be the first of several such nodes proposed in Mumbai’s urban agglomeration to de-congest the main city. The growth centre is proposed to be connected by a Virar-Alibaug multi-modal corridor, and will be close to the Nilaje railway station. A senior MMRDA official said, “We are acquiring land in the growth centre using the Town Planning Scheme, which refers to purchasing land by making the landowners stakeholders in the project, returning a portion of the developed land back to them. Under this scheme of acquisition, it is mandatory for us to use 10 per cent of the procured land for affordable housing.” 

The Maharashtra government has set a steep target of creating 19 lakh affordable houses in the state by 2022 under its ‘Housing for All’ initiative. 

Under the Town Planning Scheme, 50 per cent of the developed land would go back to the landowners, 40 per cent of the land would be used by the authority for creating infrastructure such as roads, parks, social amenities, and utilities, while 10 per cent would be reserved for housing for the economically weaker sections, the official said. In the first phase, the MMRDA will acquire 330 hectares, mostly vacant privately-owned land, using the Town Planning Scheme. Overall, the growth centre will cover 1,089 hectares in the area where the MMRDA is already the special planning authority. The development authority has not yet estimated the total number of low-cost houses that can be created in the growth centre as it is yet to decide on the Floor Space Index (FSI). 

The MMRDA is, however, planning for all infrastructure in the area assuming a maximum FSI of 4. FSI refers to the ratio of the permissible built-up area to the plot area and is an important tool for planning. “As per the region plan, Kalyan is allowed a base FSI of 0.2. Today, there is a Development Plan in place for the region, but the FSI part though slightly higher has still not been formally approved. A South Korean think-tank, which had done the initial planning for the growth centre, had suggested an FSI of 4, so while the final FSI for the area has still not been finalised, we are still planning the infrastructure to cater to a higher density,” the MMRDA official said. 

A South Korean government think-tank under its Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport had suggested creation of five growth centres in the outer Mumbai region, and recommended developing Kalyan as the first priority keeping in mind its accessibility and growth potential. The other four centres recommended by it are Vasai-Virar, Bhiwandi, Greater Panvel and Pen-Alibaug.