Gujarat has become the first state in the country to take up public-private partnership projects for redevelopment of slums in urban areas under the prime minister’s awas yojana (urban).

The inter-ministerial central screening and monitoring committee (CSMC) of the ministry of housing & urban poverty alleviation chaired by Nandita Chatterjee, Secretary (HUPA) on Monday approved 30 PPP Projects proposed by Gujarat government for rehabilitation of slum dwellers in Ahmedabd, Surat, Rajkota and Vadodara.

17,580 new dwelling units will be constructed for slum dwellers living on government lands in these four cities of Gujarat by private developers . The union government will provide an assistance of about Rs.176 crore (Rs 1 lakh per house to be built). Land will be monetized for meeting the remaining cost of slum rehabilitation projects and consequently, slum dwellers will get new houses with all amenities free of cost.

The committee has also cleared housing schemes for 145 cities in West Bengal, MP, Jharkhand, Odisha, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.  The CSMC today sanctioned 1,69,381 houses for Economically Weaker Sections in 145 cities in 8 states for which a total central assistance of Rs.2,444 cr will be provided. These include construction of houses under slum redevelopment, affordable housing in partnership and beneficiary led individual construction.

EWS houses approved include : 47,050 units in 70 cities of West Bengal, 45,217 in 27 cities and towns of Telanagana, 27,186 in 6 cities of Gujarat, 19,241 in 16 cities of Madhya Pradesh, 16,146 in 14 cities of Jharkhand, 7,621 in 9 cities of Tamil Nadu, 5,548 in Bhubaneswar in Odisha and 1,364 in Aizawl and Lawngtlai in Mizoram.

With this, the ministry has so far approved construction of 4,23,415 houses for urban poor in 243 cities in 11 States across the country, for which the union government will provide an assistance of Rs.5,900 cr.

Under PMAY (urban), the government provides an assistance of Rs 1lakh per unit for the rehabilitation of slum dwellers and Rs 1.50 lakh per unit under affordable housing in partnership and beneficiary led individual construction for EWS beneficiaries. Under the fourth component of credit linked subsidy of Rs 2.30 lakh per beneficiary will be provided.