4,700 low-cost MHADA houses in state will be up for grabs next year

According to the decision taken in MHADA’s authority meeting with state government officials on Friday, the number of houses to be sold in Mumbai is also expected to increase to about 1,000 this year from 814 last year, a MHADA spokesperson said.

Besides, the authority will advertise for 3,700 houses in its layout at Virar and Vengurla, added the spokesperson.

The authority Friday also cleared MHADA’s proposal to establish a special cell to act as a thinktank and advise the government on various aspects of affordable housing.

The authority decided that the thinktank will be headed by the chief executive of MHADA. It will comprise chief officer of MHADA’s Mumbai board, and two more officials from MHADA from the engineering and technology sides as its members.

From the state government, the housing secretary, the chief engineer from the civic body’s development plan department, chiefs of Pune Municipal Corporation, City and Industrial Development Corporation and the Housing and Urban Development Corporation would be ex-officio members.

The committee will also include experts on housing such as representatives from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, development research institutes, Mumbai University and the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India.

The cell will brainstorm on methods to increase affordable housing stock at reasonable prices, suggest pricing policies, newer technologies of construction and so on.