Bhubaneswar, Oct 11: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today launched an urban housing policy with an aim to provide houses to all people from weaker sections of the society.

He laid a foundation stone for housing projects at Buddha Jayanti park for people from economically weaker section (EWS). The houses will come up at Nakhara, Pandra, Ghatikia and Chandrasekharpur.

According to the policy, while the EWS houses will be available in the range of Rs 5.54 lakh to Rs 6.06 lakh, under the lower income group (LIG) category, houses will be available for Rs 7.91 lakh, Rs 8.17 lakh, Rs 9.23 lakh and Rs 15.82 lakh per dwelling unit.

"With the implementation of this policy, we will be able to address the problem of housing deficit in urban areas in a time-bound manner," Naveen said.

Housing and urban development minister Pushpendra Singh Deo said: "Today the chief minister laid the foundation stone for 5,600 houses under EWS category. At present, we need around 10,000 houses in and around the city. Nearly 3,000 EWS houses will be developed at Chandrasekharpur in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode. By the end of 2016, the city can achieve the target of 10,000."

Speaking on the occasion, Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) vice-chairman Krishan Kumar said: "Land will be made available to private builders completely free of cost, but on a condition that they dedicate 65 per cent of the area to EWS and LIG houses. They, however, would be allowed to use the rest 35 per cent land to develop high-end houses to make up for the money spent."

According to the new policy under the Odisha Urban Housing Mission, from now onwards a builder developing projects on more than 2,000 square metre will have to reserve minimum 10 per cent of the built-up area for EWS.

The launching of Abaas - the Odisha urban housing mission and policy for all in Urban areas - coincided with the last day of the Jan Sampark Padyatra of the BJD.