Emphasis on Affordable Housing along periphery of Ahmedabad
The focus of the three-day property show on September 27th, 2013, is on affordable housing, during which about 70 developers would be participating in the show so as to present their residential, commercial and plotting projects before prospective buyers. As per the estimates received from officials in charge of the show, about 250 projects would be on display, of which about 50% would be in the affordable category.
Pricing for affordable houses:
The Chairman of the organising committee of the show, which will be conducted at the Gujarat University Convention hall, informed that about 125 projects are expected to be displayed in the affordable category. These projects will be priced between Rs.12 lakhs and Rs. 40 lakhs. It is expected that these projects are most likely to be the major attraction for buyers looking to invest in affordable housing.
Dimensions of such units:
The area of these affordable houses will be in dimensions of 50,60 and 80 sq. m. The number of commercial properties on display would be considerably less when compared to the previous year, with only 10% of the 250 projects expected to be in this category. Incidently, the previous year’s show which was held in October, had 48 developers as participants with about 145 projects on display. Many of the projects which had been launched last year, and were not completely sold last year, will also be on display this time.
Affordable houses to be developed on city periphery:
Affordable housing will be promoted in a greater manner at the show, for the second straight year in succession. The trend until 2011 was that most of the residential units displayed at the show were meant for higher income groups. However, with most of such units strategically located in commercially viable areas getting exhausted subsequently, now the focus has shifted towards the peripheral areas of Ahmedabad.
AUDA proposes New Development Plan 2021, emphasizing affordable housing:
The focus on affordable housing was proposed as part of the prestigious New Development Plan 2021, for Ahmedabad city, by the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA). As part of this plan, 76 sq.km. of area encircling SP Ring Road was to be employed towards construction of about 15 lakh affordable houses. Besides, 218 hectares of land recovered from the closure of 38 mills in Ahmedabad was also to be used for this purpose. The approximate size of each such unit was supposed to be about 36-80 sq.m.
Regulations as per the new plan:
The principle of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) was to be employed in the construction of these affordable housing units. Accordingly, it was proposed that the Floor Space Index (FSI) would be raised so as to facilitate the development of high-rise buildings in the city, which was currently witnessing considerable horizontal growth in an unplanned manner. However, AUDA had imposed restriction on the height of buildings being more than 70 meters, with developers allowed to buy upto 2.7 FSI in R1 and upto 1.8 FSI in R2 zones. Besides, it was also decided that concessions would be allowed for those constructing affordable houses.
