Monday, December 25, 2006

Bangalore, look to New York

Spiralling apartment prices in Bangalore has made good shelter quite a dream for the average man on the street. Probably the city’s administrators can look to New York for some clue on how the runaway realty boom can be reined in to some extent.

On Wednesday, December 20,
the New York city council approved a plan that would induce apartment developers to build tens of thousands of apartments for people other than the well-heeled. The developers who want tax breaks would have to make one out of every five apartment they make affordable to lower income people. The most striking feature is that these lower-priced apartments will have to be included in each building and can’t be built elsewhere in the city.

The programme to make shelter affordable to the poor is not new – it is 35 year old -- but the new clauses to make it more beneficial to the people are. The revamped plan includes raising a $400 million trust to fund for developing low- and moderately priced housing, especially in New York’s 15 poorest neighbourhoods, including Soundview in the Bronx and parts of Bushwick in Brooklyn.

If New York can, why can’t Bangalore?


(Published in Salt and Pepper column of The Times of India, Bangalore, today)

6 comments:

  1. Forget the man on street...even a person with decent income is finding it very difficult to build/purchase a house/flat.

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  2. i find it strange too...we produce more civil engineers to dream up simpler & innovative designs, we have access to all the raw material cheaper, labour is cheap so why not get builders to produce lower cost dwellings? i recall in Madras they used to have these LIG, MIG and HIG flats. It is all with the administrators i guess.

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  3. its becoem hard for common man to survive in blore there might be a day when only affluent and rich ppl can only afford house in blore and rets would have to find place ome where else. its sad but true

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  4. I just went to New York for the christmas weekend.. post coming soon... :D

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  5. Kishor.... : How true

    Maddy.... : Bangalore doesn't have the LIGs, MIGs like some other cities.

    Enigma.... : It could stir up social tensions..

    Kishore.... : Looking forward to it.

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  6. For a Common man Bangalore is not suitable only Rich IT/ITES family can survive here, rest Low Income group should move towards North or NorthEast, that is the situation now. May be thats the solution city administrators have in their mind! to decongest Bangalore.

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