``We will put forth our demand at the Housing Ministers conference convened by Union Urban Development Minister Ram Jethmalani at New Delhi on June 8 and 9. I feel that if such a concession is given, leading builders will certainly participate in the much-delayed scheme,'' Housing Minister Sureshdada Jain told Express Newsline.

Secondly, Jain said his government would also urge the Centre to treat the power and road sector on par with the housing sector so that more investment would be possible in the building industry. ``It is essential to grant all facilities granted to infrastructure sector to the housing sector in larger interest of the industry,'' Jain pointed out.

Though the alliance government declared its plan to provide free houses slumdwellers in the metropolis, for one orthe other reason, the scheme has not been able to take off. The sudden recession in the prices of real estate in the metropolis has adversely affected the scheme.

Finding no response even after declaring a series of concessions, the alliance government has now decided to set up its own corporation under the Companies Act with an equity participation of Rs 600 crore from the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to implement the plan.

``Since an independent corporation has been set up, we feel that housing plan will get the desired response,'' Jain said and added that his department was holding negotiations with the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) too.

Elaborating on the negotiations with MCHI, Jain said it has been proposed to construct two lakh tenements through 450 members of MCHI. While 1.5 lakh houses would be given free under the Slum Redevelopment Scheme, the remaining 75,000 would be available for sale to lower andmiddle income group clients, he added.

Welcoming Centre's plan to construct 20 lakh houses for the economically weaker sections (EWS) and low-income groups (LIG), Jain said at least for Mumbai Centre should change the existing norms to ensure that the plan is implemented in letter and spirit. ``So far as Maharashtra is concerned, the proposal envisages construction of 78,000 houses in urban areas and 1.20 lakh houses in the rural areas. While the cost houses for the Economically Weaker Section has been fixed at Rs 35,000, for low income group, it will be around Rs one lakh,'' Jain said.

The centre has also proposed loan of 70 per cent at the rate of nine per cent for EWS and 12 per cent for low-income groups. ``I feel that both these norms will have to be changed. Mumbai can not be treated on par with any other city in the country in view of the high cost of construction,'' he said.