Credai-Orissa submits slum development plan to BDA

The Orissa chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai) is likely to make a proposal soon to the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) for development of the slum regions in and around the city.

Credai-Orissa’s proposal on slum development is based on the development model adopted for the slums in Mumbai and its suburbs.

According to this model, 25 per cent of the space occupied by slums is utilized for providing accommodation to the slum dwellers at a very nominal cost while the remaining 75 per cent space is earmarked for commercial development.

“The model adopted for development of slums in Mumbai has been very successful and we are going to make a proposal to the BDA soon for adopting the same model for development of slums in and around Bhubaneswar”, an official of Credai-Orissa told Business Standard.This apart, Credai-Orissa has called for a reduction in stamp duty on real estate projects in the state from the existing 5 per cent to 1-2 per cent to boost the volume of transactions in the realty market in the city.

“The Orissa government has announced a reduction in stamp duty on real estate projects from 7 per cent to 5 per cent. Credai-Orissa wants a further reduction in stamp duty to 1-2 per cent in line with the Delhi and Maharashtra which have brought down stamp duty to two per cent and one per cent respectively”, said the official.

The reduction in stamp duty would generate more revenues for the state government and also help curb the black money market in the future, he added.

On development of low cost housing projects in the city, he said, “Low-cost housing projects can be developed in the Special Residential Zone (SRZ) identified in the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) of the city prepared by IIT Kharagpur. The housing projects developed in this zone would be cheaper as these projects would be exempted from sales tax and value added tax.”

In the CDP, about 400 acres out of 9,286 acres have been earmarked for the SRZ and Credai-Orissa wants the area to be raised to 2,000 acres so that more people belonging to the economically weaker sections are benefited.

According to the CDP of Bhubaneswar prepared by Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur, the city's population is projected at about 30 lakh by 2030.