Now, consent of 75% flat owners required to redevelop old and unsafe buildings in Gujarat

Ahmedabad 70.4 (Image: Moneycontrol)

The Gujarat Assembly has amended the Gujarat Ownership Flats Act that seeks to expedite the redevelopment of housing colonies that are over 25 years old, declared unsafe and in a dilapidated condition.

As per the amended Act, consent of 75 percent of the flat owners will be required to undertake reconstruction as against prevailing norms that called for consent of all owners.

Redevelopment is a method of urban renewal and involves relocating businesses and people. It seeks to provide additional and better quality housing, make land available in the centre of the city, eliminate urban decay and improve infrastructure.

While the Gujarat government had allowed redevelopment of private societies earlier, provisions under the Gujarat Ownership Flats Act, 1973 required consent of all members of the society.

“The idea is to encourage densification along the bus rapid transit system and metro corridor, transit oriented developments and widened roads. The government plans to increase density where new infrastructure is coming up. Redevelopment will open up a huge construction opportunities and make land available in the centre of cities. New housing stock that will be created may even lead to stabilisation of prices,” Jaxay Shah, Managing Director at Savvy Infrastructure and President of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), said.

“It will lead to creation of safe housing structures. Many of them had been declared unsafe or dangerous after the earthquake,” he added.

The state seems to be following the Maharashtra model of redevelopment where right now consent of 51 percent members is required, experts said.

In Mumbai, as many as 30,000 residential buildings are 30 to 80 years old and in need of redevelopment. Over 400 housing projects spread across Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot may be redeveloped following this amendment, they stated.

The Gujarat Assembly has also passed a bill amending the Gujarat Municipalities Act, 1963. The bill seeks to streamline administration of 162 municipalities in the state with the creation of a new post - the Commissioner of Municipalities Administration - in place of the present Director of Municipalities.