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Even as the Centre is bringing out a Real Estate Regulation Bill to usher in transparency and affordable housing, the Andhra Pradesh government has devised a model `integrated townships plan to tide over the shortage of affordable housing in the state, state housing minister C Shilpa Mohan Reddy has said. Disclosing this at a one-day seminar on `Housing For All organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Saturday, Reddy said that as part of this plan the state government was in the process of allotting 100 acres of land in each of the municipal corporations, 50 acres in each of the municipalities, and 10 acres in each mandal.

Apart from this, the state government is constructing 26,000 flats in and around Hyderabad and 50,000 flats across the state under its own `Rajiv Swagruha scheme, he added. According to Reddy, a recent survey had indicated that nearly 1.76 lakh houses are needed to be built for urban people in the state. The state government is determined to provide the houses for middle-income, urban populace all over the state, starting with Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, he explained. In his address, AP housing department additional secretary Ratna Kumar said the state government had also taken up a massive housing scheme for those living below the poverty line (BPL) under the `Indiramma Programme. About 81 lakh houses have been sanctioned in rural and urban areas for BPL families, of which about 27 lakh houses have already been completed, he said.

Meanwhile, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI) - Andhra Pradesh chapter president C Shekhar Reddy said that the biggest barriers to realtors providing affordable housing were skyrocketing of prices of land and raw materials, and over-taxing of housing that accounts for almost one-third of the cost. For instance, 18 departments levy taxes on each house, constituting one-third of the housing cost. If this is made more rational and transparent, and levied through a single-window, then it will help the developers a great deal in providing affordable housing, he said.