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Why not SRZs?
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CREDAI chief Kumar Gera’s ‘thought paper’ has been submitted to Union Ministry of Urban Development, writes T. RAMACHANDRAN
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Speculative plan: Special housing zones can become affordable entities in terms of pricing.
The creation of Special Residential Zones (SRZs) has been mooted as a possible solution to meeting the rising demand for affordable mass housing in the country. The concept, mooted by Kumar Gera, Chairman of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) , envisages the creation of special tax-free zones where only mass housing of a certain kind will be permitted.
“A Special Residential Zone (SRZ) is a notified geographical region that is free of domestic taxes, levies and duties with special development rules to promote largescale, greenfield, affordable housing projects for the country’s masses. The SRZ would have a prescribed minimum number of dwelling units with a maximum prescribed size, and each SRZ would require adequate social infrastructure, including schools, medical facilities, etc.,” is how he describes it in a recent concept paper. The National Housing and Habitat Policy, 2007, has referred to the need to develop new integrated townships as half of India’s population will be living in urban areas by 2041. But with the takeover of land for the Special Economic Zones becoming a contentious issue in some parts of the country, will the creation of any kind of a zone involving land acquisition prove viable? Mr. Gera is very clear on certain points. “This proposal does not suggest any acquisition effort by the government-all the land should be purchased by the developer at fair market values, ” he told The Hindu PropertyPlus.
The funds of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) can be used for connecting the SRZs with the nearest urban agglomeration.
Mr. Gera’s paper has been submitted to the Union Ministry of Urban Development in the form of a “thought paper.”
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