2 | H o u s i n g i n I n d i a FOREWORD “Housing for All” in t he urban as well as in rural areas, even though of very modest standards, i s being in creasingly regarded as basic human necessity all over the world. Althou g h “housing” is essentially a State subject, yet Government of India has been involved in formulation and funding of various housing schemes. These schemes have generally bee n in the nature of capital or interest subsidy or in providing land at subsidized r ates. With passage of tim e, providing common facilities and in situ upgradation of the urban slums has increasingly become a part of such schemes. In the year 2014, the n ewly - elected Central Government declared an ambitious target to provide “Housing f o r All” by the completion of 75 years of Independence (i.e. by 15th August, 2022). The existing schemes were consolidated and launched as “Prime Minister Awaas Yojna” (PMAY). The implementation of this Scheme requires co operation and coordination with the v arious State Governments and Urban Local Bodies / Authorities. The progress has been satisfactory but lot still remains to be achieved. Recently, the Ministry of Urban Affai rs, Government of India issued revised guidelines inter alia bringing rental house s within the reach of the urban poor. Housing has been valued globally, not only as the basic necessity of human living but also as provider of safety, security, identity, dignity and assured quality of life. Housing has been acknowledged as major contri b utor to economy and employment and promoter of industrialization. Securing ownership of an appropriate shelter remains lifetime ambition of every individual and family. Cons idering its relevance, “ Housing for All” has been recognised as the universal goal to be achieved both locally and globally. United Nations has also mandated its member states to provide adequate housing as one of the basic human right s . Government of India has launched PMAY, for providing ‘Affordable Housing for All’, by the year 2022. However , housing remains a complex issue , requiring huge physical, social and economic resources. It is both cost and time intensive. Housing, occupyi ng largest space and forming largest mass among buildings in cities, has been found to be consumer of l arge energy an d resources besides generating large amount s of waste. Housing has been found to be responsible for large carbon footprints and global warm ing. Accordingly, making housing sustainable, cost - effective, affordable and consumer of minimum resou r ces, assumes importance. I feel happy that the present e - Book, ‘Housing for All in Urban India - Myths and Realities, by Jit Kumar Gupta, is an attempt to look at the entire housing sector, both objectively and holistically. Book tries to look in detail , problems of mushrooming of slums in large cities besides issues creating roadblocks in making addition to housing stock. Book also tries to a nalyse what goes into making of housing afford able. In search for evolving cost - effective and affordable housin g , book tries to evaluate various options including; sourcing land at most affordable price; making optimum utilisation of land resources; searching for o ptimal housing typologi es; options for designing cost - effective buildings; materials and construction t echnologies to be adopted for minimising time and cost; making use of pre - fabrication and off - site construction to reduce the cost of building. Promoting rental housing; evolving multiple housing options; separating right to housing from right to ownershi p of housing and involving beneficiaries are among the other suggestions made in the book In addition, 3 | H o u s i n g i n I n d i a book tries to evaluate the role and importance of effective and efficient project management in making housing sustainable and cost - effective in the r e al sense. In a scenario where the State Governments and Urban Local Bodies / Authorities have very modest resources at their command, it will increasingly be called upon the Central Government to fund the “Housing for All” initiatives. With the decreasi n g Central Go vernment revenues, on account of the stagnant, if not the shrinking GDP in the COVID - 19 scenario, innovative methods shall have to b e found to be provide funding for such schemes. This may include, apart from the traditional methodologies outl i ned above, m easures like enhanced FAR / FSI, ground coverage, more saleable area as well as increased statutory requirement for EWS housing in the projects of private builders and colonizers. A lot of emphasis shall also have to be laid on providing bette r civic ameni ties in urban slums. Conferring full proprietary / ownership rights to the long - standing occupants and weeding out multiple and fictitious claimants through ADHAAR - linked identification would also have to be adopted. If all these measures a r e used as co herent package, the dream of “Housing for All” in the cities, towns and villages of India can surely be realized in foreseeable future. I hope views expressed and suggestions made in the eBook, will help students, professional and researcher s to understa nd the entire context of housing, its physical and social implications and opportunities for making housing for all, a distinct reality. ______________________________________________________ _____ _ KBS Sidhu is an IAS officer of 1984 b atch of Punjab cadre He is currently posted as Special Chief Secretary to the Government of Punjab - cum - Director General Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, Chandigarh. The views expressed are his own.He can be reached on kbs.sidhu@gmail.com or @kbssidhu1961 or https://www.facebook.com/kbs.sidhu 4 | H o u s i n g i n I n d i a Prefac e This book by well - known Architect – Planner Jit Kumar Gupta, on the subj ect of Hou sing For All, is a timely effort on compiling the experiences of a lifetime spent in the urban planning sector in Punjab. The book begi ns with the need for affordable ho using in our cities and des cribes some of the efforts in this regard. It al so raises the issues of peri - urban development and issues associated with it. Undoubtedly, land is a very important resource for housing developm ent and this book also examines va rious methods of land manag ement. It also suggests a voluntary land develop ment schem e which is novel and holds promise. The book focuses its attention on the urban poor and the need to make housing cost effective. It ta lks of low cost housing experiment s in Chandigarh and also di scusses the issue of low rise versus high rise de velopment. The importance of good design should not be forgotten when we design for the low income population or the poor and this point comes ou t strongly in the book. Towards th e end, the book focuses on the need to reinvent the construction sector in I ndia on ac count of the large numbers of houses that need to be built in the centrally sponsored Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana ( PMAY ) Housing for Al l. Written by an eminent professio nal, this is a book that ca n be recommended, without any hesitation, to all students o f urban studies across the country. September, 2020 Prof. Dr. P.S.N.Rao Director, SPA – New Delhi, Ministry of Education, Govt. of India Chairman, Delhi Urban Art Commiss ion, Govt. of India Chairman, Town and Country Planning Board, AICTE, Govt. of India C hairman, Delhi Regional Chapter, ITPI, New Delhi 5 | H o u s i n g i n I n d i a Preface Housing has been globally valued for its role and importance as determinant of growth and developm ent of human beings, communities and nations. Being one of three basic human necessities, UN has man d ated for accepti n g the ‘Right to Adequate Housing’ as the basic human right. Considering multiple connotations and crit icality of housing as provider of i dentity, security and determinant of quality of life besides promoting economy, generating employmen t , leveraging ind u st rialization and rationalizing growth and development of human settlements, providing ‘Housing for All by 2022’, has been accepted by Gov ernme nt of India as prime objective of National Housing Policy and Prime Minister Awas Yojna, placin g it high on the d evelopment/welfare agenda of the nation. Despite critical role and importance, housing still remains a distant dream for millions of peop le. UN Habitat Report on Right to Adequate Housing finds, ‘Well over a billion people are not adequa t ely housed. Mill i on s around the world live in life or health threatening conditions, in overcrowded slums and informal settlements and conditions which do not uphold human rights and their dignity’. India Habitat III National Report, 2016 identifies 6 5 .49 million urba n ites living in slums in 2011 besides 1.77 million counted to be homeless - without any kind of shelter, roof and walls. Limitations impose d by land, materials, construction technologies, skilled manpower, limited housing options, non - inv o lvement of stake h olders, private sector and inadequate financial resources have emerged as the major road blocks in ens uring adequate supply of housing fo r poor. Conside ring magnitude, complexity, cost & resource intensive nature and ever - growing mismat c h between demand and supply in the lower income categories, creating appropriate housing for urban poor remains the most cha llenging and formidable task. Documenting, prevail ing challenges and possible options to overcome challenges in housing , in the sh a pe of eBook was never a pre - conceived idea and tho ught. eBook had its genesis in looking at the quality of life and adve rsities human beings face d , without an assured and perm anent shelter , during the ongoing crisis of pandemic Covid 19, has clearly dem o nstrated the vul nerability of cities and migrants in the face of lockdown, when majority of urban migrant workforce, wit hout having any shelter, had no opt ion but to leave cit ies to go back to their native places , despite all odds and hardships. This clea r ly established t he context, role and importance of shelter in not only rationalizing growth and development of cities bu t also creating ownership among its citizens. It has al so clearly demonstrated the necessity of providing adequate housing to all the u r ban residents , i f the cities are to be made more sustainable and livable Housing remains one of the most dynamic enti ties related to human living , alway s evolving and devolving, never static, never definitive , ever dynamic , always chang ing and never de c reasing For m ap ping the journey of housing the poor, eB ook trie s to look at the various facets of housing , through nu mber of articles written duri ng di fferent times spanning over adecade in different contexts. These papers have been printed in variou s journals and al so presented in both national and international conferences. Accordingly, each article has to be read in its own domain. While makin g the eBook , due care has been taken that various facets of housing are addressed, so that it remains both compressive and self - contained. Starting from land; planning and designing; typology of housing, cost ; construction and pre - fabrication have been made part of the document. Looking at the criticality of the cost , document suggests considering the life - cyc l e cost of buildi ng and not only the initial cost, if the house has to be made cost - effective in real sense of the term. Criticality of architectural design , in achie ving cost - effectiveness and promoting state of art housing , has also been detailed. Book a l so debates the p ositivities and negativities of plotted development and flatted development. It emphasizes the role and importance of green buildings , to make housing not only sustainable but also to make residents healthy and more productive Multip l e housing option s at settlement level have been 6 | H o u s i n g i n I n d i a suggested to overcome the housing problem. F or minimizing speculation a nd illegal sale of houses , suggest ion has been made to graduate from , ‘ Right to ownership of Sh e lter to Right to Shelter’. Housing , l a rgely remains a local probl em and must be settled by the local agencies, which would require empowering these agencies both economically and technically t o achieve the objective. Reviewing legal f r amework, adopting pre fab construction, improving construc t ion technologies and promoting rental housing are the other options which the book tries to suggest. eBook also includes National Housing and Habitat Polic y and Prime Minister Awas Yojna (PMAY) framed by Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Governme n t Of India., as reference material on housing, f or which author is indebted to Government of India. Consid ering the enor mity of the subject , it remains dif ficult to deal with all the facets o f housing, which remains limitation of this eBook This is the third eBook by t he author, first eBook , ‘ Planning and D esigning of the State of Art Healthcare Facilities ,’ was dedicat ed to the healthcare sector; wherea s second eBook titled , ‘ Making Cities Great Places to Live ’ , showcased the options for planning, d e signing safe, re silient, inclusive and sustainable cities and towns. I hope third eBook on housing ,will have some valu e for the students, development age ncies , parastatal agencies and the professiona ls looking at the issues and options for creating hou s ing for all. I would like to place on record my gratitude and appreciation , for the valuable support given by M s Priyanka Sagar, student of Final Year B.ARCH of IKG PTU Campus Mohali, who despite her pre - occupation with her final year thesis, ha s been working r eally hard on the document for last more than one month, to bring it into the present shape. She with her hard work, sincerity and dedica tion has made this book a distinct reality. Design of the cover page and images in the eBook are t he outcome of he r hard work and understanding. I would like to dedicate this eBook to the sacr ed memory of my mother, Late Smt Leela Gupta, who as a te acher made me where I stand today, despite all odds and hardships she faced in bringing me and edu c ating and to my father Late Ved Parkash Gupta, whose benevolence I was deprived of f , in my ear ly childhood Jit Ku mar Gupta Chandigarh August10, 2020 7 | H o u s i n g i n I n d i a CONTENTS ARTICLE - 1 A ffordable housing for all in India 8 issues and o ptions ARTICLE - 2 Redefining Planning an d Development 16 Strate g ies for Peri - urban areas for Promot ing Sustainable Habitat and Affordable Housing ARTICLE - 3 L everaging housing for the urban poor 2 5 through innovative resource mobilization ARTICLE - 4 M aking urban India slum free through 34 I nnovative land management ARTICLE - 5 V olun tary l and development scheme – 41 a step]towards achieving housing for all. ARTICLE - 6 Issues and Options for Housing 54 the Urba n Poo r in India ARTICLE - 7 Man aging Cost and Makin g Housing 61 Cost - Effective ARTICLE - 8 Chandigarh Experiment with Low C ost Housing 67 ARTI CLE - 9 Differen ce between Plotted Development 76 (PD) and Flatted Development (FD) ARTICLE - 10 Promoting Cost - effectiven ess in Housing through 8 0 Good Archite c tural Design ARTICLE - 1 1 R einventing construction sector in I ndia 8 3 ARTICLE - 1 2 R ol e and Importance of Pre - Fabrication in Promo ting Sustainable Built 89 Environment ARTICLE - 1 3 Pra dhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Housing for 9 4 All (Urban ) ARTI CLE - 1 4 National Urba n Housing and Habitat 100 Policy 2007 ARTICLE - 1 5 Sl ums in India - 2011 118 8 | H o u s i n g i n I n d i a AFF ORDA BLE HOUSIN G FOR ALL IN INDIA ISSUE S AND OPTIONS 9 | H o u s i n g i n I n d i a Affordable Housing for All in Indi a – I ssues and Options Introduction If 1 9th centu ry marked the ushering o f industrial i zation at the global level, 21 st century is bei n g called the cen tury of urbanization. Following th e glo bal p attern, India is also urbanizing at a fast pace. India ranks today as the second largest urban system in the world after China. Census 2011 has pla ced the population of Urban I nd ia at 377.10 mill i on and level of urbanization at 31.16% as against 279 m illio n in 2001 with level of urbanization at 27.8%. Urban areas are growing with a multiplier of 3 against rural areas with a nnual growth r ate placed a t 3.18 % against 1.22 % during the decade 2001 - 201 1 . Based on t he p revailing g rowth rate by the year 2031, ur ba n India is estimated to house 600 million people out of a total population of 1400 million and b y 2051, u rban and rural areas will have equal share with total population placed at 160 0 million C o ncentration of p opulati on in urban centers has bec ome m ore a nd more pronounced with number of urban centers going up from 5161 in 2001 to 7935 in 2011 and million plus c ities recording 50% incre ase , going u p from 35 in 2001 to 53 in 20 11. It is estimated , number of s uch centers will be 68 in 2031 and 100 in 2 051. Out of 26 t en million plus cities of the world, three cities , namely Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi , are located in India. As per estimates made by the United Nations in its report, ‘World Urbanizatio n Prospect, T he R evision 2014’, the number of such citie s wil l go up to 7 in 2031 and 9 in 2051. Urban area s are known for their higher productivity, larger capacity to generate employment and ma king greater contribution to the economy and prosperity of t h e nation s an d co mmunities. They are also known to be ce nters of innovations, promoters of entrepreneurship and providers of state of art services and amenities. However, despite distinct advantag es, l arge nu mber of dualities, contradict ions and peculiarit i es mark urba niza tion. UN Habita t Report, State of World ’s Ci ties 2008/2009 - Harmonious. Cities, defines the cities in their basic characteristics and growth pattern in terms of: Cities contain bo th order and chaos. In them reside beauty and ugliness, virt u e and vice. They can bring out the best or the wor st in huma nkind. They are the physical manifestation of history and culture and incubators of innovations, industry, technology, entrepreneurship and creativ ity. Cities are the materiali zation of humanity’ s noblest ide as, ambitions and aspirations, but whe n not plan ned or governed properly, can be the repository of society’s ills. Cities drive national economies by creating wealth, enhancing social development and providing employment but they can also be t h e breeding g roun ds for poverty, exclusion and envi ronme ntal degradation Indian cities are no different from the global pat tern, which are distinguished by dualities and contradictions and where growth and development is marked by depr ivation and opulenc e . Despite sh owca sing distinct advantages and criti cal r ole, urban centers have not been growing in a planned and rational manner. Emerging urban scenario on Indian canva s portrays large number of shanty town s over - shadowing the city g ro wth; slums and stat e - of - the - art buil dings rub bing shoulders; poverty a nd pr osper ity competing for urban space, unplanned development emerging as the order of the day; informal sector govern ing the growth and develop ment of citi es and basic amenit ies and s ervices eluding the majority of urba n residents. Majority of urban cen ters conti nue to face problems of acute housing shortage and rapid uncontrolled growth resulting into haphazard expansion with sub - standard infra structure, a dversely impacting the qualit y of life of majori t y of urban r esid ents. The ex isting inadequacies ha ve re sulte d into uncontrolled rapid growth and proliferation of informal sector. Poverty , population , pollution and environment have emerged as t he major iss ues and greatest threat to th e urban living. H ousing Rapid urb anization and concentration of pop ulati on in urban areas have numerous implication s Uncontrolled migration of rural poverty, skyrocketing price of land and ever - rising prices of building mat erial s besides large financia l resources require d to create appr opriate shelter through legal mean s , th e poo r urban residents and rural migrants have no option but to encroach upo n available marginalized public and derelict land in the city t o create tem p orary and makeshift shelter due to poor financi a l capacity a nd a ffordability. This has lead to mus hroom ing o f slums and shantytowns in urban areas. Mumbai has more than 54% of its population living in slums whereas Kolkata share is placed at 3 3%. In I ndia more than 60 million urbanit es are residents of slums and sh anty towns and the proportion is incre asing rapi dly. The makeshift shelter lacking in the basic necessities of lif e , makes it unfit for reasonable human habitation. With shelter lacki ng in proper air, light and ventilation ; poor health and hyg i ene besides poor quality of life have emerged as t he na tural corollary of urban living for these migrants . With shelter made on the encroached public/private land, the poor are in perpetual fear of being dis placed by the parastatal agen cies with possible d estruction o f ma keshift shelter. The fear of demol ition acts as a maj or deterrent to improve their shelter with savings available 10 | H o u s i n g i n I n d i a at their disposal. This has lead to housing shortage , which keep s on growing and gap between demand and su pply getting wider a nd wider. As m ajor determinant of quality of lif e, pr ovide r of security/ identity to human beings and providing large employment to both, skilled and unskilled manpower, housing is known to be one of the m ajor contributors to the econ omy/ gross domestic product. Wit h mo re than 290 industries involved in prod ucing materials used in the construction, housing has been considered to be the key promoter of industrialization. Considering the multiple connotations , providing housing has emerg ed as one of the ma j or priority for nations. For focusing on housing a s the prio rity sector, Government of India initiated number of steps and enacted number of housing policies involving; providing shelter to all w ith every fa mily having a dwelling unit o f appropriate quali t y and space duly supported by basic amenities ; tr ansit ion o f public sector role from provider to facilitator; making housing integral part of neighborhood; prioritizing on urban housing and emph asizing the need for providing and promot ing housing on a la r ge scale wit h pr iority for EWS and LIG categories. Base d on the efforts made, housing sector is being given priority and ranks high on the agenda of state and central Governments. Housing Short age Globally , all developing nations are facing perpetual sh o rtage of hou sing the EWS sections of the society. Uncon troll ed urbanization and rapid migration coupled with lack of authentic data are making it difficult to accurately quantify the level of hou sing shortag e in urban areas. Technical G roup constituted by Ministry of Hous ing and Poverty Alleviation (MHPUA ) , pl aced shortage at 24.71 million dwelling units at the end of 10 th Five Year Plan for 66.30 million urban households. Group further estimated that majorit y of shortage was in the EWS category with gap p l aced at 88%, LIG ac counted for 11% whereas in MIG /HIG group s, the estimated shortage was merely 0.04 million dwelling units. For the 11 th Five Year Plan (2007 - 12), the Group projected that total housing req uirement in urban centers inc luding backlog, wil l be of the o rder of 26.53 million dwelling units f or 75 .01 m illion households. If current trend of increase in backlog of housing is allowed to continue, report said that 30 million houses would be required by the year 2020 to achieve t he national goal of providing af ford able shelt er for all Technical Co mmitt ee al so critically looked at the housing shorta ge in all categories individually and observed that housing shortage in EWS category was hi ghest with s hortage placed at 99.9% of to tal EWS households, 10.5% in LIG whe reas it was only 0 .2% in MIG/HIG categ ories Despite the fact that l arge volume o f housing stock has been added since the involvement of private sector but maj ority of the addi tions falls under the category of higher and upper - mid hous i ng segment s beca use of high premium these categori es co mmand Housing for the poor and EWS categories essen tially falls in the domain of parastatal agen cies and to some extent with private d evelo per s, to mee t the legal obligation of lic ense granted to the m for colonie s/ t ownships . With limited capacity an d res ource s available , housing for the poor face perpetual neglect and shortage. However , considering enormous demand in these categories, existi ng shortage can be leveraged both as an o pportunity and chal l enge to crea te l arge housing stock for LIG/EWS cat egori es, b ased on their affordability. Affordable Housing Affordable Housing, as a concept , approach and opportunity, has recently been gaining curren cy and attracting lot of attention of p rovide rs and d e v elopers invo lved in housing sector However, affor dabil ity c annot be precisely defi ned because of large number of variables and determinants, which go in to the making of affordability. RICS def in es a ffordabi lity in th e context of urban housing as provisio n of ‘adequat e sh elter’ on sustainable basis, ensur ing s ecuri ty of tenure within the means of the common urban households. KPMG has defined it , ‘ i n terms of three main parameters, namely inco me level, si ze of dwelling unit and affor dability US Depart m ent of Housi ng d efine s housing affordability simpl y in terms of expenditure of household on housing as proportion of annual income that should not exceed 30% of the total income. Task Force on Af fordable Hou sing considers two variables namely size of dwel l ing and hous ehol d income whereas JNNURM has define d it in te rms of size of dwelling units involving super built up area/carpet area and EMI/Rent not exceeding 30 - 40% o f gross monthly income of th e buyer Jon es Lang LaSalle considers aff ordable housing in t erms of volu me o f habitation instead of area, prov ision of b asic amenities, cost of the house (including purchase cost and maintenance cost ) and location of the shelter. Based on the studies mad e and analys is carried out , it has been o bserved that the hi g hest gap bet ween demand and supply of housing is f ound to ex ist in the annual income range of Rs 2 - 3 lakhs because of the limitations imposed by minimum disposable income surplus placed at 30 - 35% . This consi derably r e duces the purchasab le capacity of this income group par ticularly the shelter, which is hi ghly cost - intensive. Bas e d on the defined norms and the concept given above, the cost of the dwelling unit needs to be rationalized to bring it within the a ffordability limits. . The co st of h ouse can be m ade more rat iona l and affordable if 11 | H o u s i n g i n I n d i a the developer ’ s mar gin i s lowered and cost of construction is reduced by using state of art/ cost effective technologies, using cost - effective locally based b uilding mate rials, materials made from wa ste , effective proj e ct managemen t a nd production of houses on a mass basis lead ing to economy of scale. Affordable housing is essentially a volume game and not a margin game However, the price of dwellin g unit wil l vary depen ding upon location, cost of l and, FAR, density, n umber of dwe llin g uni ts permitted per unit area an d g ov ernme nt charges. Considering the present status, hous ing cost can be made afford able with the enabling environment and supportive policies o f the Govern ment Issues in Developing Af fordable Housing H ousing, as a lrea dy stated, is both labor and capit al in tensi ve activity with land , money, materials and construction as the major components. Considering the multi - lateral implications of the hou sing, there are large numbers of economic , regulatory and u r b an challenge s in developing the affordable housing . Eve r ris ing cost of land and cost of construction are the constraints that have emerged on the supply side whereas lack of access to home finan ce and ident ification of right beneficiar ies are the major d e mand side co nstr aint s , creating road blocks in supp lying adeq uate number of houses in the affordable category. Despite large efforts made to mitigate these challenges , tangible results have not be en commensur ate . Multi - pronged and focuse d action is require d to promote crea tion of affordable housing on larg e sca le. L ooking at the existing scenario, majo r issues identified in developing affordable ho using are enumerated below : • Low availability of d eveloped lan d With 2.4% of global land a nd 17.3 % of world p o pulation, In dia is und er perpetual shortage of lan d nee d ed t o meet the basic requirement s of more than 1.3 1 billion Indians for food, clothing and shelter. With rapid urbanization and industriali zation, aski ng fo r more and more land to be brought under no n - agricultura l us es, the pressu r e on the land is in creas ing r apidly . With low land - man ratio coupled with ever rising demand and numerous constraints emerging out o f speculation, ever rising land prices, lega l framework , planning tools a nd building bye - law s , the supply of developed u rban land is diminishin g ver y fas t and accordingly, cost of land rising very rapidly, making the cost of shelter highly unaffordable f or majority of urbanite s. • Rising T hreshold Cos t of Construction With constr uction constituting 50 - 60% of th e to tal selling price in the affordab le ho using , for reducing cost of dwelling unit, it will be critical to optimize the cost of construction. However, due to rapidly rising cost of building mat erials, cost of labor , cost o f transportation, g o vern ment lev ies, taxes and charges , cost of affor dable hous ing is remains highly stressed. • High er Government charges - Charges levied by the parastatal agencies for granting change of land use, approval of the l ayout/ building plan, lic ensing fee, interna l and externa l de velopment charges, registration of land and registration charges for the finished house etc are major c ontributors to the cost of the housing . These would need relook, rationali zatio n and r edefinition to promote affo rd ability in the hous i ng sector. • R igid land use planning Ma s ter Plans/ D evelo pm ent Plans, prepared for the rational growth and development of the city / periphery , do not create any space for the Informal sector which l eads to thei r exclusion from planning pr ocess, . T heir deman d for shelter and employment perpetually remain unf ulfil led. For making affordable housing a reality , mechanism, approach, intent, content and scope of these plans need to be rationalized and re - d efined to ma ke them more inclusive. • Irr ational Building By e - Laws Preva ilin g operational inefficiencies in la nd ut iliza tion, non - use of cost - effective and state of art building materials and construction technologies have their genesis in the prevailin g outdated a nd archaic b uilding bye - laws and subdivision reg u lations. The y ne e d critical review on priority for opti mizin g land resource and adopting cutting edge technologies. • Delay in Project Approvals C omplicated procedures, cumbersome processes, invol ving large n umber of agencies , duplicatio ns of processes/pro c edures and l ack of decentralization of powers has led to co nsiderable time taken to approve the projects/building plans (16 - 24months) resulting in both time over - run s and cost over - run s of th e projects. Delay ed 12 | H o u s i n g i n I n d i a project approvals are estimated to add 2 5 - 30% to the proj ect cost For maki ng affordable ho using real ity, proje ct approvals needs to be put on fast track and made time bound. • Lack of access to cheaper housing finance Lack of access to cheaper hou sing finance for low income g roups has its genes i s in the non - av ailability of large number of doc ument ation s involved in approvals based on providing securities, proof of assured sources of income and residential address etc , which needs rat ionalization • Multiplicity of agencies i nvolved As per s tud y made by the KPM G and NAREDCO , real estate project s are requ ired to pass through 150 tables in a bout 40 departments of central/state/ urban local bodies before getting approved leading to delayed projects and mak ing housing cost - ineffici ent • Outdated and i r rational leg al f rame work including Rent Control A ct. • Non - involvement of Private Sector • Outdated technologies and poor project manageme nt Outdated technologies and conventi onal methods of construct ion besides poor project mana gement are major co n tributors le a d in g to wastage, delay ed construct ion a nd ri sing cost of dwelling units WAY FORWARD Conventionally, housing for EWS/LIG sections of the economic/social pyramid has b een largely the responsibility of the par astatal agencies wi t h limited ro le a ssigned to the Private Sector. Con sider ing t he large demand for housin g in this segment, most of the d eveloper’s have started working on the affordable housing to explore the dept h, breadth a nd length of the demand on a long - term basis. Wi t h major init iati ves in the urban development being take n at the national/ state level , including launching of National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy, 2007(NUHHP); Jawaharlal Nehru National Urb an Renewal M ission (JNNURM) ; Basic Servic es for the Urban Po o r (BSUP); In tegr ated Housing and Slum Development Progr am (I HSDP); Rajiv Awas Yojna ( RAY) and Affordable Housing in Partnership ( AHIP) focusing on the lower portion of the pyramid, affordable housing has emerged as the priority area. Further, industry a nalysts and d eve lopers have started believing that if t he go vernment takes the initiative to remove the roadblocks, the segment could move to fast track. Considering the enormity of demand d evelo pers feel , i t is possible to have a profi table proposition i n affordable hous ing if the project and cost manage ment are m ade very strong. Improved technologies can further help in reducing timeframe and cut down cost of constructi on to a large extent. Inno vative archi tectural/structural design of dwelling unit s and standardizat ion of housing units/components can he lp in cost reduction. Further, economies of scale and developing a standard product can keep the cost low. Thus project design and construction m anagement ca n lead to making the affordab le housing projects risk free an d pr ofitable, considering the huge lat ent d emand with salability not an issue. To create large stock of housing in the country and to put affordable housing on fast track of growth an d developmen t, following options are sugg ested: • Adopting pr o ject based a ppro ach Considering element s of cross - subsi dy an d cost - reduction, a pr oject based approach should be adopted for creating affordable housing . Housing project should invariably invol ve mix ing of a ll categories including HIG , MIG besides EWS a n d LIG, to ma ke p roject viable and self - sus taining. Maki ng pr ovision and addition of commercial component would help in making project profitable and attractive for both public and private sectors • Promoting strong project and cost - man agement Adopting pr o fessional an d de dicated project and cost - manageme nt ap proac h in planning, designing and construction , would minimise time span for completion of the project, bring ing high degree of cost - effic iency by eli minating time and cost - over run. • Single Window Clearance Pu ttin g in place an effective and effici ent m echan ism of single window clearance , to ensure approval of the projects within a prescribed time frame, not exceeding three months, will go a long way i n ensuring early completion o f the project and a void ing any cost escalation. • Creating Land Bank 13 | H o u s i n g i n I n d i a Cr eatin g lar ge stock of affordable housing through the active i nvolvement of private sector, will require promoting a dedicated Land Bank , for maki ng avail able off the shelf land parcels, with all required c l earances , to dev elopers under a j oint v enture mech anism • I n novative and state of art architectural designs Innovative and st ate of art architectural designs, providing for highest building effic iency, optim um utilization of land resour ce, optimum structu r al design, c os t - effective building technologies/s ervic es, u se of large prefabricated components and mi nimum maintenance and upkeep, would be critical for creating cost - effective affordable h ousing. • Gree n Buildings For promoting aff ordable living, d es i gning afford able housing on the conc ept of Green B uildi ngs w ould help in considerable reduction of operational cost of the house over the en tire life cycle of the building due to reduced energy a nd water con sumption be sides lower genera tion of waste to ma k e the dwelli ngs really cost - effective and sustaina ble. • Promo ting off - site Construction C reating large stock of affordable housing will require shift ing strategy from on - site to off - site construct ion Standar dising building components ba sed o n available si z e of materia ls a nd promoting pre - fabrication will be pr e - req uisite to promote off - site construction. Pre - fabrication is known for its capacity to reduce wastage, minimise cost, promote qualit y an d achieve ec o nomy of scale and reduce ti me frame for constr u ction and l a bour component for the housing, making it c ost - e ffective. • Providing Higher Floor Area/ Density Floor Area Ratio and Density are the two major determinants for achieving optimization o f land resou rce and rationalizing the hou sing cost. Making a v ailable high er F loor Area Ratio and redefining den sity acc ordingly will help in optimising land utilisation, create larger housing stock and making housing cost - effective by lower ing cost of la nd for each dwelling unit. • Improving Buil ding Technologies R e ducing perio d of construction, lowering constructi on co st an d ensuring quality of construction would essentially need adoption of state of art and innovative building technologies . Technology Mis sion of Gove rnment of India under PMAY fo r sourcing most inn o vative and c ost - effective global technologies will ushe r a n ew era in affordable housing. • R ationalising government levies, charges, fees and taxes C onsiderable proporti on of the total cost of hou sing has gen esis in the government charge s, fees, taxes etc w hich would r equi re rationa lisation to make housing affo rd abl e in real sense of the term. Reducing these charges would involve redefining land use conversion charges, plan scrutiny fee, internal a nd external development charges. In all a ffordable housing p r ojects , no l and use conversion and licensing charg es sh ould be levied, building scrutiny fee should be charged @25% of prescribed rates whereas EDC should be charged @50% for EWS and@ 75 % for LI G categories • Long term tie up of conven tional materials L o nger gestati o n p eriod and other externalities , not only incr ease the cost of essent ial materials but also sometimes disrupt their supply, which adversely impacts the sustainability of the projec t. In order to hedge the project against the cost - escala tion of essential mat erials including cement, steel, br icks, tile s sand, wood etc and to ensure the assured supply of critical materials during the project life cycle, it will be vital to have long te rm tie up wi th the producers/suppliers of such m