The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is supplementing the efforts of States/Union Territories (UTs) through Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) since 2015 to provide all weather pucca houses with all basic amenities for all eligible families/ beneficiaries. Eligible beneficiaries can avail the benefit of PMAY-U through any of the four verticals i.e., Beneficiary led Construction (BLC), Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP), In-Situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR) and Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS). Based on the project proposals submitted by States/UTs, more than 115 lakh houses have been sanctioned across the country, out of which more than 95 lakh have been grounded and more than 56 lakh have been completed/delivered to the beneficiaries so far. Completion of projects generally takes 12-18 months under BLC vertical and 24-36 months under AHP vertical of the Scheme. Therefore, there is always a lag between sanctioning, construction, and completion of houses. States/UTs have been advised to ground and complete all remaining sanctioned houses within the stipulated timeline as per Detailed Project Reports. 

 

The Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) as a sub-scheme of PMAY-U is being implemented through two models as under:

 

1. Model-1: Utilizing existing Government funded vacant houses to convert into ARHCs through Public Private Partnership (PPP) or by Public Agencies
2. Model-2: Construction, Operation & Maintenance of ARHCs by Public/ Private Entities on their own available vacant land.

 

Under Model-2 of the Scheme, all land owning Public/Private Entities are encouraged to construct ARHCs for urban migrants/ poor who are engaged in their own industries as well as for nearby establishments. MoHUA has issued the Expression of Interest (EoI) three times to shortlist the Public/ Private Entities for construction of ARHCs for urban migrants/ poor on their own available vacant land. Pursuant to said EoI, proposals for construction of 78,885 new ARHC units have been sanctioned. In order to provide impetus to the Private participation under this Scheme, following incentives/ benefits have been provisioned as mentioned below:

 

1. Exemption of Income Tax on any profits and gains derived from operation of ARHCs.
2. Exemption of GST on any profits and gains derived from operation of ARHCs at par with rental services of residential premises.
3. Project finance/loan at lower interest rate through concessional window under Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) by Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) and Priority Sector Lending (PSL) by Commercials Banks.
4. Provision of “Use Permission” changes for houses on vacant land, if needed.
5. 50% additional Floor Area Ratio (FAR)/ Floor Space Index (FSI), free of cost.
6. Single window approval of design/ drawings and other statutory approvals within 30 days.
7. Necessary trunk infrastructure facilities up to the project site without any additional cost to the Entity.
8. Municipal services such as water supply, electricity, house/ property tax, sewerage/ septage charge etc. for operation of ARHCs levied at par with residential projects.
9. Additional grant in the form of Technological Innovation Grant (TIG) by MoHUA for using innovative, sustainable, green and disaster-resilient technologies as well as building materials for cost effective, faster and quality construction of ARHCs.

 

Further, the details of ARHCs scheme are available in its Operational Guidelines at http://arhc.mohua.gov.in/filesUpload/Operational-Guidelines-of-ARHCs.pdf.

 

PMAY-U is being implemented through four verticals and eligible beneficiaries including the slum dwellers can avail the benefit through any of the four verticals. ISSR component of the Mission specifically focuses on slum redevelopment in order to provide slum dwellers a dignified living. There is no provision of specific component-wise budget allocation under PMAY-U. However, an amount of ₹28,000 crore has been made available in the current budget (FY 2022-23) for implementation PMAY-U through all verticals.

 

This information was given by the Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs, Shri Kaushal Kishore, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

 

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