The lower middle class people in Odisha will have something to cheer about, as the government is planning to build 5,000 low-cost housing units in Bhubaneswar very soon. The houses will be available in the range of Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. The new venture will benefit the economically weaker sections (EWS) and lower income groups (LIG).

The housing units will come up at Gothapatna on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. The expression of interest (EoI) will be published in two to three months. The government has selected around 100 acre land for the low cost housing projects. The private real estate developers will get around 20 acres of land for these.

As per the government benchmark, the EWS category will be given to people earning up to Rs 7,500 per month. People earning Rs 15,000 per month, will be classified as LIG. While 75% of the dwelling units will be used for EWS and LIG housing, the remaining 25% will be used by the builders for other projects. Similarly, any builder that builds housing projects in urban area, will have to keep 15% of the total units for the EWS people. The Odisha Government aims at creating 20,000 housing units per year for EWS and LIG categories, while the state needs an estimated 4.10 lakh EWS and LIG urban housing units right now.