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Rajasthan Housing Policy – A Change in Paradigm
A s the urban population increased from 23% in 2001 to 25% in 2011 in Rajasthan, the state witnessed a housing shortage of 11 lakh dwelling units in 2011, which is projected to reach 17 lakhs by 2021. The situation was particularly critical with the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Low Income Groups (LIG) bearing 86% of this deficit (Government of Rajasthan, 2009). Increase in the cost of land, building materials, labour and infrastructure made it very difficult for the EWS, LIG and slum dwellers to access affordable housing. This posed an unprecedented challenge in the state.An intervention to bridge the gap between price and affordability could only be met through a set of innovative policies and incentives. The Government of Rajasthan took a small step towards addressing the deficit by formulating the ‘Affordable Housing Policy 2009’ that aimed at building 1.25 lakh housing units in a period of 5 years for the EWS and LIG specifically. The Policy Features The housing policy’s objective was to reduce the
housing shortage in the state, especially in the EWS/LIG categories and
to promote Public Private Partnership (PPP) based investments in the
housing sector in urban spaces. The Rajasthan Affordable Housing Policy
2009 was a step away from the conventional policies as it actively
initiated involvement of the private sector to ensure quality
construction of housing units. The policy enabled a sustainable and economically viable housing model. It’s strong development approach based features are as follows: • Land – Government owned land or government acquired land was provided to selected developers for construction free of cost based on an open bidding process. In case of land owned by developers, certain area of land was capped for construction of housing units for EWS and LIG. Further, slum rehabilitation was also promoted on land owned by both the government and the developers.• Finance – A secure financial model was developed to ensure easy access to loan by end-users through banks and Housing Finance Companies. The policy also promoted an innovative feature of setting up escrow accounts to ensure smooth payment to the developers along with ensuring re-allottment of flats in case of defaults.• Incentives – Various benefits were provided to the developers such as doubling permissible Floor Area Ratio and Transfer of Development Rights, waiving off several development and approval charges, fast tracking approval mechanism etc. Further a flat buy back by the State Nodal Agency has also been set at a predetermined rate of INR 850 per sq. ft. for EWS and LIG.• Basic Infrastructure – A holistic housing unit development has been ensured as the sites selected and approved were on the basis of the vicinity’s existing infrastructure such as availability of local transport, access to water and electricity, education and health facilities etc. This approach has enabled minimising delays and reducing additional costs of construction.Results of the Policy The policy intervention has witnessed great success with respect to the implementation mechanism. It has facilitated construction of about 2.35 lakh houses in 77 cities across Rajasthan, of which 75,279 houses were allotted to EWS and 63,241 houses to LIG by December 2013. Changing the paradigm by increasing the involvement of private sector, the target was revised to 5 lakhs housing units due to the overwhelming response by the developers. The policy has enabled an environment that promotes sustainable development and accounts for the provision of social housing for EWS and LIG, thus fully integrating the urban landscape with all segments of the society. The salient features of the policy have the potential of being replicated pan-nationally in a tailor made manner in order to eliminate the housing shortage in the country. q Reemsha Reen References http://indiatoday.intoday.in/storyRajasthan +starts+affordable+housing+scheme/1/76854.html http://municipalika.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/Presentations/CS08-R-K-Agrawal-Presentation.pdf http://mhupa.gov.in/w_new/presentation _rajasthan_state_27_05_2013.pdf http://www.rhbonline.rajasthan .gov.in/ https://www.kpmg.com/IN/en/Issues AndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/Decoding-Housing-for-all-2022.pdf http://www.idm.org.in/index.php/2-uncategorised/78-need-for-a-people-friendly-housing-policy-in-states-an-rti-case-study-with-specific-focus-on-rajasthan-india https://www.jaipurjda.org/pdf/others/Affordable_Housing_PolicyDec2009.pdf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_challenge Back to Contents |
