CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Urban Housing Policy, the final draft of which was submitted earlier this year, is likely to be delayed as it may undergo some revisions as suggested by the World Bank. The World Bank had engaged a consultant to help with the Policy’s finalisation. Subsequently, on December 16, the State government issued a Government Order (GO), a copy of which is available with Express, for appointing a committee that would collaborate with the consultant to finalise the housing and habitat plans.
The 11-member committee will be chaired by the Housing Secretary. Early 2019, the World Bank team held talks with Chennai Corporation, Tamil Nadu Housing Board, Slum Clearance Board and other departments’ officials for implementing the $500 million Tamil Nadu Housing and Habitat Development for Urban Poor project in Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts. It is learnt that the World Bank team has decided to change the financing method from Investment Project financing (loans provided for activities that create physical and social infrastructure to reduce poverty and create sustainable development) to Development Policy loan (funds rapidly-disbursed to help State address the actual or anticipated development financing requirements and promote policy reform).
The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), an international enterprise owned by the German Federal government, has appointed Ernst and Young agency to understand the current housing scenario and formulate the draft Urban Housing and Habitat Policy for Tamil Nadu. The Policy, which is on the verge of completion, aims to develop temple lands, institutional lands and defunct public sector units’ lands in core areas of cities for optimum usage.
As per official records, 1,630 acres of land is needed to build houses under the Affordable Housing in Partnership in Chennai alone. It is learnt that the State government is identifying surplus lands with its various departments so that the same can be transferred to the Slum Clearance Board to construct homes for the houseless who do not own any land. Meanwhile, plans are on to initiate a Geographic Information System-based land database for all land assets of the government, which will be updated on a regular basis and accessible to all State departments. The proposed draft comes in the wake of a survey, conducted under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), estimating the housing demand in Tamil Nadu to be 1.39 million.
