Maharashtra: Cabinet approves policy letting MHADA take over stuck redevelopment projects

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In a relief to residents, the Maharashtra Cabinet on August 28 approved a policy for the redevelopment of old and cessed buildings that are left midway by developers, DNA has reported.

According to the report, this will pave way for the redevelopment of buildings in the city and address issues of the residents, who have been waiting due to stuck projects.

The report states that the government amended the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority Rule, 1976, making MHADA the planning authority. Besides, the guidelines for redevelopment of old and cess buildings have also been approved.

Cessed buildings are those which are over 30 years old and pay repair cess to MHADA.

According to The Times of India, this effectively means that MHADA will now be empowered to sanction building permissions for cessed structures. Earlier, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had that right.

According to the DNA report, there are more than 16,000 cess buildings in Mumbai. The Maharashtra government had, in 2018, appointed an eight-member committee of legislators to give suggestions on speedy and seamless redevelopment of old buildings.

The committee had observed that in Mumbai, several developers had run away leaving the redevelopment of old buildings midway.

"We noticed that the developers undertake the redevelopment of the project, but they are not keen to complete it," Amin Patel, a Congress legislator who was a part of the committee, told the newspaper. Patel added that the developers would delay the projects deliberately and not pay regular rent reimbursements to the residents of the buildings.

"Moreover, there are some residents, who are waiting for their new houses for more than 30 years. Therefore, we wanted a government agency like MHADA to interfere if the developer failed to complete the project," Patel said.

The report states that as per the amendment, MHADA now has the right to undertake an incomplete project. It can also undertake those projects, where developers are unable to pay rent to the residents.