1 lakh new DDA flats in Delhi by 2022, says Venkaiah Naidu; city needs 24 lakh

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has set a target of building 20,000 new flats every year to fulfil the increasing housing needs of the city, said Union housing and urban poverty alleviation minister M Venkaiah Naidu.

He was speaking at the launch of DDA’s Aawasiya Yojana (housing scheme) 2017 on Friday under which 12,072 flats have been put up for sale in Delhi.

“Our target is to give at least one lakh affordable houses to the people of Delhi by 2022,” said Naidu.

DDA has so far raised 11.69 lakh dwelling units in the city.

The target set by Naidu, however, may not meet the housing needs of Delhi residents because as per the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD) 2021, based on a projected population of 230 lakh by year 2021, the Capital would require an additional 24 lakh dwelling units.

Though the GST rate of 12% on under-construction real estate projects is higher than the current tax rate of 10%, the cost of units for homebuyers is likely to come down if the developer passes on the benefit of input tax credit to buyers available to him for procurement of raw materials such as steel and cement.

Sources in DDA said that the preparations for the next housings scheme is on and DDA has identified land for building over 16,000 units, 33% of which will be for high-income groups.

Construction is on at some of the projects. The new flats will come up in Vasant Kunj, Dwarka, Rohini, Preet Vihar, Phazulpur, Mandawali and Khichripur.

The new scheme will have about 33% HIG flats, most of which will come up in Vasant Kunj in south Delhi, Dwarka in Southwest and Rohini in northwest.

Bulk of the 5,000 EWS houses and 5,000 LIG houses will come up in the east and Rohini zone while some are also planned for Dwarka sector 14 and 19.

Officials have been asked to prepare a detailed project report and initial estimates, sources said.

The DDA wants to launch the next project by December 2018.