Government seeks to build a dedicated unit for monitoring Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

By Abhay Shah, Realty Quarter

According to the sources, the Ministry for Housing and Urban Affairs plans to set up a specific unit to monitor the execution of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) under the Housing for All flagships by 2022.

The Program Management Department (PMU) will provide targeted support for PMAY (U), according to the request for proposal (RFQ) floated by the Ministry. The government has proposed establishing the PMU by April 2020 and it will run until 2022. By 17 October, interested agencies can submit their proposals. On 4 October a pre-bid meeting is scheduled.

“The ministry is planning to establish a PMU to support the implementation of the PMAY (U) Housing for All Mission. The goal is to manage PMAY implementation efficiently and effectively by providing the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with pragmatic support,” he says.

The RFP stipulates that the average annual financial turnover of the participating companies should not be less than Rs 9 crore in the last three consecutive fiscal years.

The PMU would operate under complete supervision and guidance of the Joint Secretary and the Housing for All Mission Director. The document states that it should be established for two years, which can be extended to one year. The government has set the target of constructing some 1.12 crore houses by 2022 in urban areas under PMAY (U).

The PMAY (U) website has reported 88.19 lakh houses to date that have been sanctioned, 52.32 lakh houses are being constructed and 24.16 lakh houses are now being passed to beneficiaries.

Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said last month that Housing for All mission would be achieved by 2020, two years prior to the deadline. He added that by the end of the fiscal year one crore houses will be sanctioned and the rest 12 lakhs by March 2020.

“We had chosen to construct 1.12 crore houses by 2022. We already sanctioned about 84 lakh houses, and I’m sure that all one crore houses will be sanctioned by the end of this year,” he said.

Puri said that he received additional assessment demand for constructing 12 lakh houses by the year 2022, which are now likely to be achieved in early 2020, probably by March.

24 lakh houses have been handed over to the beneficiaries so far under the urban division of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), with a soon to reach 50 lakh numbers. About 48 lakh houses are being built, but this number is also going to increase to 75 lakh, Puri said.