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Land ceiling act will be repealed next week, assures Jethmalani

Union Urban Development Minister Ram Jethmalani announced on Friday that the Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act would be completely repealed by next week.

Addressing a national conference on sustainable urban housing in Chandigarh, Jethmalani said a bill in this regard would be reintroduced in the current session of Parliament. He said the bill would be cleared by the standing committee within a day or two and then it would be introduced in the Lower House.

The minister also said that the Rent Control Act would soon be brought into force.

Jethmalani said housing and urban infrastructure were the key to the revival of the economy. He said that nearly 289 industries had been identified as being associated with the housing sector and an impetus to this sector would therefore kickstart the economy.

The Union minister said that against the backdrop of an annual requirement of two million housing units in the country there was a need for better technologies which could speed up housing construction.

Highlighting the massive investment required in the housing sector, he said there was a need to create a climate conducive for foreign investment in housing.

Speaking on the occasion, Adi Godrej, chairman of the Urban Infrastructure Committee, Confederation of Indian Industries, raised some issues of concern in the area of housing and urban infrastructure. Calling for repeal of the Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act, he said this would help release about 200,000 hectares of urban land for housing activities.

He further said that to make housing affordable to the common man, the rent control legislation should be amended, and the stamp duty and interest rate on housing finance should be brought down.

Godrej called for the simplification of modalities to allow cent per cent foreign direct investment in the housing sector. This, he said, would immediately push the inflow of foreign investment in the country and pave the way for growth in core sectors like steel and cement.

A new housing policy with an impetus on housing could trigger the economy, he added.

Housing and Urban Development Corporation chief managing director V Suresh said there was a need to build 33 million houses in the next five years which came to 6.5 million houses annually. The maximum number of houses that has been added in any one year is 2.5 million. He said addition of another two million every year would make it 4.5 million, still leaving a gap of about two million, he said.

UNI

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