Chennai clampdown stunts low-cost housing growth

CHENNAI: Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority’s close scrutiny of building plans and completion certificates has hit affordable housing projects in the city. The clampdown followed the collapse of an under-construction 11-storey building in Chennai's Moulivakkam area in which more than 60 people were killed.

“It is indeed a knee jerk reaction by the planning authority,” said RKumar of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), in Chennai. “But the CMDA has no other option when everybody points fingers at them.” Kumar, formerly with the CMDA and now managing director of Navin Housing in Chennai, was of the view that a bottleneck has been created due to delays in approvals.

Some other builders around Chennai agree that the backlog of pending clearances for affordable houses is rapidly building up.