|
| Mumbai chawl redevelopers demand I-T exemption |
| BS Reporter / Mumbai Jul 13, 2009, 00:09 IST |
|
Squeezed between rising input cost and falling property prices, the Property Redevelopers Association (PRA) has again urged the government to consider giving income tax (I-T) exemption on the redevelopment of old tenanted and dilapidated chawls.
The slowdown in the real estate sector has made it difficult to recoup the capital required for rehabilitation. Since the finance minister made no provision for I-T exemption in the Budget, the PRA has renewed its demand, to initiate redevelopment work in the city.
In its pre-Budget recommendation to the government, the PRA had emphasised the need for I-T exemption for the welfare of the low-income group who continue to live in dilapidated chawls and whose development is on the top of the state government’s agenda. The government is committed to rehabilitate tenants free of cost as owners in self-contained flats having a minimum area of 300 sq ft.
Pujit Aggarwal, PRA spokesperson, argued that the state government’s commitment to rehabilitate around 20,000 tenants residing in cessed properties remained unfulfilled for 23 years. Landlords, redevelopers, tenants cooperatives, MHADA and the Mumbai Building Repair and Reconstruction Board (MBRRB) have, so far, been able to redevelop only 1,600 chawls in 23 years, at just 70 buildings a year.
Over two million intended beneficiaries remain barred from the government’s initiatives and therefore, the city might witness a collapse in the housing system. To prevent this, re-developers should be encouraged through I-T rebate, Aggarwal added.
Around 500,000 self-contained flats having a minimum carpet area of 300 sq feet each are proposed to be constructed for rehabilitation. Prices of raw materials including cement and steel, have increased 50-100 per cent over this decade, thereby squeezing builders’ margin further in the downturn.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Read Business news in |  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Advertisements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Content Guide
