Chennai: No more building homes first and looking for buyers later. Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) is shifting to a demand-driven model for its self-financing housing schemes. The board will first assess demand for different housing categories, including one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, across the city and state, then plan construction accordingly.Senior officials said a third-party vetting of building designs and estimates will also be done to create a foolproof method to ensure quality. “Earlier we used to build houses of different sizes and wait for the buyers. This was the reason for such huge unsold inventory. Now out of the 7,000 unsold plots and flats, a majority have been sold,” a senior TNHB official said.Housing projects have been proposed at Anna Nagar, Purasawalkam, Nandanam and Ernavur in Chennai. Similar projects are planned in Kundusalai in Cuddalore district, Ellis Nagar in Madurai, Thirumazhisai in Tiruvallur and Vallankumaravilai in Kanniyakumari district.As a first step, TNHB has launched a dedicated portal on its official website to assess demand and understand prospective homebuyers’ requirements. People interested in a particular scheme can fill out a form and select their preferred location, type of dwelling and other requirements. Registrations would be used only to analyse demand and would not provide any priority or preference for allotment of houses.Once demand is fixed for a scheme, TNHB will open an application portal and inform those who expressed interest, after which they can apply and book the houses. “We will simultaneously call for tenders and appoint an architectural firm to come up with designs, size, amenities and elevation of housing projects before construction begins. Based on this, we will ask them to provide an estimate as well,” the official added.TNHB engineers will then vet the design and estimates. “We will send it to a third party such as IIT or Anna University for further scrutiny; the identity of the agency won’t be revealed. Structural stability, rates and quantities will also undergo vetting by the institution,” the official said.The proposal, including the project cost and estimate, will then be presented to the TNHB board for approval. Requirements, including the elevation, size, and structural drawings, will be provided to contractors. “With everything finalised before the tender, contractors would only have to quote for executing the work, which is expected to reduce delays during construction,” he added.After the work order is issued, allottees will also be able to monitor the project’s progress. “This way, quality will not be compromised at any stage of construction,” he said.
