Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U), being implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under the Housing for All by 2022 mission since June 2015, needs a concerted push to succeed, according to Crisil Research. The government will need another Rs. 1 lakh crore in three years to build one crore houses, as disbursements under PMAY-U show a huge lag. A ramp-up in fund-raising and utilisation is crucial, Crisil said. As on November 26, 2018, only 12 lakh had been constructed, though 63 lakh houses had been sanctioned, while 23 lakh were under construction, Crisil said in a statement. Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu together accounted for 55% of the sanctions.
The Ministry aims to sanction 75 lakh houses and construct 30 lakh by the close of this fiscal. The Central Government needs to contribute a whopping Rs. 1.5 lakh crore in seven fiscals through 2022, at an average of Rs. 1.5 lakh per house. However, only 22% of this, or Rs. 32,500 crore, has been disbursed so far. Of the total Central assistance, Rs. 19,000 crore has been factored in the budgetary allocation till fiscal 2019.
Future allocations The balance would be met through future budget allocations and internal and extra budgetary resources, of which Rs. 25,000 crore has been provided for fiscal 2019. Prasad Koparkar, senior director, CRISIL Research, said, “Our calculations show the government will have to garner around Rs. 1 lakh crore over the next three years if it has to achieve the target of building 1 crore houses. This is going to be a tall task, given the current fiscal arithmetic.”
For extra budgetary resources, the ministry has already initiated fund-raising through entities such as the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd. As these are typically bonds with 10 years of maturity with interest and the principal repayment has to be managed through future budgetary announcements, provisions in future budgets would be a key monitorable. The scheme also faces headwinds such as unavailability of land in prime areas, Crisil said.
