Mad rush for investment homes ruining Goa, say activists

They are the ones who will virtually throttle the state's character, says the Padma Vibhushan awardee.According to Correa, who has his roots in Goa and was a few days ago conferred the Gomant Vibhushan award on the occasion of Goa's 50th year of liberation from Portuguese rule, the trend of buying these homes by the Mumbai and Delhi elite should be stopped without further delay if the state's social demography is to be preserved.

"Because of the large amount of surplus income generated across urban India, it has become extremely fashionable, especially for those in Delhi and Mumbai, to own a second home in Goa - which can be bought at a mere fraction of the real estate prices in our metros," Correa, who was part of a state government committee in charge of drafting the futuristic Regional Plan 2021, told IANS.

Otherwise sleepy villages in Goa have witnessed an unprecedented boom as far as the real estate sector is concerned. It has seen dwelling units hastily springing up in what were once coconut groves, cashew orchards and farm lands.

An average flat in capital Panaji costs no less than Rs.50 lakh ($110,000) to Rs.55 lakh and the scene in the tourism oriented coastal belt is no less flattering.

"The second homes are making real estate prices shoot up in Goa, taxing infrastructure and ruining the image of Goa," said master architect Correa, who is an alumni of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

"This phenomenon, which has escalated in the last few years, must be remedied immediately as Goa is suffering irreversible damage," said Correa.He also recommended that unoccupied second homes in Goa should be taxed in order to deter people from buying such properties purely from an investment perspective.

"Such a non-occupancy tax is needed. The draft regional plan recommends that the government take a series of measures to discourage unoccupied second homes, through policy, legislation and taxation," Correa said.

He added that the second home phenomenon was putting an enormous strain on Goa's demographics and character, as well as infrastructure services and public utilities.

Many of the homes bought by people from outside are locked up for most of the year with their owners residing elsewhere, making the huge gated complexes -- a new phenomenon in Goa -- look like ghost colonies.

According to the regional plan task force committee, of which Correa was a part, such mega gated communities were "destroying the ambience of the Goan towns and villages".

"This spurt in speculative real estate construction and the resulting rise in prices has taken even the modest home out of reach of the average Goan," said Oscar Martins, who is one of the several activists spearheading a campaign against mega housing projects, which have sprung up in the state.

Geraldine Fernandes, convener of the Ganv Ghor Rakhon Manch (GGRM), which translates as Forum for Protection of Villages and Homes, told IANS: "Goa does not need such mega projects. They are changing the social demography of the land. Imagine in a village with a population of a few thousands in South Goa like Sernabatim, they are building housing projects of 700 flats. This is unacceptable."
The Regional Plan task force's recommendations have, however, not gone down well with the real estate lobby. Nilesh Salkar, president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI), has reacted "sharply" and expressed "dissent".

"This will increase the pressure on cities, thereby making apartments in cities unaffordable for the common man," Salkar said.