A draft policy statement on new townships in Maharashtra, if accepted in toto, is expected to encourage mass housing in the state. 
    According to the policy statement, a number of concessions would be given to the township developers. For instance, the developers willing to build townships on more than 100 acres of land will get automatic exemption from urban land ceiling. The developers will have to pay only 5 per cent stamp duty on all transactions. They will have to provide for sewage, water and electricity supply with the help of government authorities. For all practical purposes the township would be treated as a private sector housing project, and the government will notify it as such. 
    Builders are enthusiastic about the new policy with many expressing the possibility of 8 to 10 townships coming up in the next two to three years. One township of Lok Housing is already coming up in Virar, a distant suburb of Mumbai, and another called Magarpatta City is coming up near Pune.