PANJIM: In a bid to facilitate additional floor area ratio (FAR) for residential and commercial pockets, the 5.59 lakh sq mtrs of the Housing Board colony at Colvale will be included in the re-worked Mapusa Outline Development Plan (ODP). Also, the recently commissioned Central jail will be part of the ODP.
The draft Mapusa ODP, which will be sent for government approval this week, allows an increase in FAR from the existing 80 per cent to 150 per cent for residential pockets and 200 per cent for commercial sector in the Housing Board. The North Goa Planning and Development Authority’s (NGPDA) decision to include the area under ODP will help Goa Housing Board go ahead with its proposal to construct 2,000 affordable flats.
An area of 5,59,801 sq mtrs of the Housing Board colony and its adjacent area that has the Central Jail, will be included in the ODP. “The decision was taken following a special request from the Goa Housing Board, after the government decided to put the colony at Colvale under PDA,” NGPDA chairman Michael Lobo told Herald.
Lobo said that as assured by the then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in the 2013-14 Budget, the government has proposed to construct 2,000 flats for the lower income group. Accordingly, Housing Board has acted to formulate the scheme to fulfill the assurance.
“The present FAR allowed at Colvale is 80 per cent; hence it will be difficult to take up 2,000 houses with this FAR. As such, it is proposed to increase the FAR of Housing Sector H1, H2 and H3 from 80 per cent to 150 per cent for residential and 200 per cent for the commercial sector C1 as the project is to be cross subsidised on commercial area,” the proposal by Goa Housing Board reads.
Of the 2,000 flats, 30 per cent will be reserved for government servants, 30 per cent for police employees, five per cent for journalists and the balance to residents of Goa.
“The draft ODP will be sent to the government for approval this week,” Lobo said explaining that the Central Jail had to be included in the ODP as it was located at the centre of Colvale Housing Board colony and industrial estate.
