Corporates vying to tap market for houses for EWS, LIG, middle income groups

Chennai:
Corporates are vying to tap the affordable homes market for economic weaker sections (EWS) and low-income groups (LIG) and are planning various models to build efficient and cheap homes.

Although the price per square feet for flat is unlikely to go below the four figure mark due to rising prices of cement, steel and sand, corporates expect the houses could be priced in the range of Rs 12 lakh to Rs 20 lakh  to target low income group, middle income group and economically weaker sections.

Speaking on the sidelines of Confederation of Indian Industry conference here on Affordable Housing for All, Sangeeta Prasad, chief executive officer of Mahindra World City told Express that Mahindra Lifespaces is looking at land parcels in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra to build homes for middle income group, low income group and economic weaker sections below Rs 20 lakh. The land, which is likely to be near Chennai and Mumbai, will be developed after Mahindra gets right partners, she said.

She said there is a need to have a eco-system with innovation to provide the design and construct homes for the low income group and economic weaker sections. “The loans should be on a concessional interest rate and a financial mechanism should be worked out to help the economic weaker section get loans,” she said.

“Since these people are from informal sector, they are denied loans by the banks as their income is anywhere between Rs 5,00 to Rs 12,000,” Sangeetha said, stressing on the need for the EWS to have access to funds.

Ajit Chordia, vice-chairman of Indian Green Building Council Chennai chapter and managing director of Olympia Techpark Limited highlighted the need for do-it-yourself kit for building homes. He said to build the homes below Rs 20 lakh one has to shift from brick and mortar to aluminium formwork  and pre-cast method and the land has to be provided by the government.

He also lamented on high cost of taxes saying that 20 to 25 per cent of the coast of the materials go down in taxes. Chief construction technical officer of Value and Budget housing corporation Limited Alejandro R Morales said that the company’s objective is to provide housing that meets high quality standards at a low cost with delivery at record speed. But he says the per square feet cost can’t be reduced in the three figure mark due to rising cost of cement, sand and steel prices. The company applies contemporary building technology and adopts ingenious industrial engineering processes to construct homes.