Lack of funding, other factors delay housing plans in Asia Pacific; officials seek more than Rs 2,000 Cr from CM

Amaravati: The Housing Ministry has called on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to immediately release Rs 2,361 crore to make progress in building houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (city) in the state.

The Indian government has so far disbursed Rs 4,032 crore under PMAY-U in 2022-23, but the AP government has only disbursed Rs 2,556 crore in grants to the Ministry of Housing and transferred another Rs 1,476 crore.

Moreover, of its proportional share of Rs 1,389 crore, the state has so far released only Rs 5.04 crore, but halted the balance citing “resource crunch”, a senior official said.

The payment of Rs 755 crore (including Rs 324 crore to beneficiaries) has been pending, seriously hindering the progress of the scheme.

The official added that over the past few years, the centre has approved 16,84,502 houses to AP under PMAY-U, but only 13,92,855 houses have been occupied so far.

AP received more than 57% of total PMAY-U grants this year and is expected to receive a total of Rs 5,000 crore.

“The remaining central share of Rs 1,476 crore and state share of Rs 885 crore must be released immediately to receive the next instalment from the centre in December,” a housing ministry official told the chief minister at a high-level review meeting on Wednesday. .

Housing department officials said Rs 324 crore must be paid to PMAY-U beneficiaries, and another Rs 311 crore for land acquisition and land formation work. In addition, drinking water supply works under Jal Jeevan Mission have to pay Rs 1.2 crore.

Meanwhile, officials also told the Chief Minister that the progress of the housing scheme had been significantly affected over the past few months due to various factors.

While underfunding was the main reason, “relentless rains” (20% excess) also exacerbated the crisis.

Poor road conditions across the state have affected vehicles delivering construction materials.

“As a result, operability was adversely affected,” a housing department official told Reddy.

Sand is an important input that is in short supply. The available stock at the various warehouses has been “exhausted” and the sand reaches are still inoperable due to flooding and therefore cannot be refilled.

The state government plans to organise a major event on Dec. 21 to mark the completion of about half a million homes, but it will now only be held after January next year.