In a move that can potentially give relief to up to 40,000 families, Maharashtra is set to reallocate stuck slum redevelopment projects to new builders. There are 520 such stuck projects where the developer who had availed the original residents' consent for redevelopment but not delivered on the promises and also stopped paying rent given in transit, the state's housing minister Jitendra Awhad said.
He said the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), the government body regulating such projects, has cancelled 520 such stalled projects and will be handing over them to new developers after assessing their financial strength and commitment to take it to a logical end as part of the 'amnesty scheme'. Awhad said such builders have raised money from financial institutions as well for such projects before disappearing and pegged the quantum of money which is stuck at Rs 35,000 crore.
Awhad also said that the state is looking at developing a 26-acre land parcel on which a slum stands in South Mumbai's Colaba, and will be looking to partner with realty developers for the same. Terrorists like Ajmal Kasab, who was part of the 26/11 conspiracy, had landed at the jetty next to the slum, Awhad said.
The minister also announced that developers redeveloping Mhada buildings will not have to pay stamp duty upfront, and will now be able to pay the sum in a staggered way till the occupation certificate is issued to a project.
