20,000 solar-powered green homes get Rs 420 crore allocation
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu is to take up construction of 20,000 houses under the Chief Minister’s Solar-Powered Green House Scheme at a cost of Rs 420 crore, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam announced in the Budget on Thursday.
However, this comes in the wake of a similar scheme proposed in 2015 by Housing and Urban Development Department failing to take off. The scheme proposed in 2015 suffered a blow due to the failure of the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board to sell transferrable development rights (TDRs) in the market to repay loan of the Housing and Urban Development Corporation.
Striking a resemblance to the scheme announced on Thursday, the scheme launched in 2015 initially had HUDCO reportedly approving a loan of Rs 420 crore after the guarantee by the government to repay loan by selling TDR certificates.
The Slum Clearance Board obtained TDRs for the tenements constructed under resettlement programme for Rs 194.46 crore from Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority. But with the State not having a system or an agency in place, wherein the TDRs could be sold or exchanged, the loan could not be repaid. The Slum Clearance Board urged the government for financial support to repay the loan amount and interest to HUDCO and reduce the loan to Rs 132 crore, instead of the initially proposed loan of Rs 420 crore.
In the Budget, the Deputy CM also announced that another 1.30 lakh houses will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 2,276 crore in 2018-2019.
Source: newindianexpress
