BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Government on Thursday asked the General Administration and Housing and Urban Development departments to create urban land bank by taking over unused land under the possession of Government and private organisations.
The departments have been directed to take the assistance of Odisha Space Application Centre (ORSAC) to identify patches of land allotted to Government and private organisations but have remained unutilised.
Chief Secretary AP Padhi gave this direction during a review of the progress of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) for urban poor implemented through Odisha Urban Housing Mission (OUHM).
Presiding over the third governing body meeting of OUHM here, Padhi asked the Urban Development Department to ensure that housing projects called ‘Abaas’ under implementation in different urban areas of the State are completed in time.
“The Government has already approved construction of 50,000 houses in the first phase. Distribution of work orders has been started. Special incentives will be given to those beneficiaries who will complete house construction within four to six months,” Housing and Urban Development Secretary G Mathivathanan told reporters after the meeting.
While the unit cost of the housing scheme is `3 lakh, financial assistance from the Government will be `2 lakh (Central share `1.5 lakh) for construction of a 350 sq ft house. Rest of the cost will be shared by the beneficiary.
The meeting reviewed the housing projects sanctioned for Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. Two projects involving `185 crore have started at Subuddhipur and Gadakana area of the State Capital where 2,662 housing units will be constructed.
The Government has sanctioned a project to be constructed over an area of 37 acres at Madhusudanpali in Rourkela city. Meanwhile, transaction advisor for the project has been selected. The project will be implemented in public private partnership, Mathivathanan said.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik distributed work orders to 11,228 beneficiaries under the scheme at a State level function here on December 26. As many as 23,843 beneficiaries have been selected under OUHM in 40 urban bodies of 27 districts.