Ordinance on completion of redevelopment projects in MMR soon

MUMBAI: Maharashtra government will come out with an ordinance that will make it binding on builders to complete redevelopment projects of dilapidated buildings in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) within a stipulated time-frame, saving its residents from living in transit camps for long.

Minister of State for Urban Development Ranjit Patil said the state government will come up with the ordinance within a month's time. The draft of the ordinance is ready and it only needs the state cabinet's approval.

"There are around 17,000 dilapidated buildings in Mumbai and most of them are in the Southern region. Most of these buildings have been given an approval by MHADA for reconstruction.

"However, there are builders who deliberately delay the reconstruction work which forces residents to continue living in Transit camps for a long period of time," Patil told PTI.

The residents, therefore, will be protected under the law and will also not get cheated by the builders, the minister said.

"We had received several complaints where residents alleged that they were being cheated. So, to protect them, we will come up with a law where builders will be given a maximum time limit of three years to complete their construction and the No Objection Certificate (NOC) will have to be acquired within a maximum time period of five years," Patil said.

He further said the provisions in the law will give power to the government to take action against builders who flout norms and do not do justice to residents.

"The draft of the new law is ready. It only needs to be placed before the state Cabinet for final approval. For the sake of residents, we will not wait till the Winter Session (of Assembly scheduled to take place in December). We will immediately issue an ordinance," he said.