Govt unveils new PPP policy as part of its push for affordable housing
The central government on Thursday announced new public private partnerships (PPP) to promote private investments in affordable housing in line with its Housing for All target by 2022.
Speaking at the Real Estate and Infrastructure Investors Summit 2017, organized by real estate body National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), minister of housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh introduced eight PPP options for the private sector to invest in affordable housing segment.
He said the policy seeks to assign risks among the government, developers and financial institutions, to “those who can manage them best, besides leveraging under-utilised and unutilised private and public lands.”
Singh said out of the eight PPP models, two involve extending central assistance of around ₹2.5 lakh per house to be built by private builders even on private land as interest subsidy on bank loans in upfront payment under the Credit Linked Subsidy Component (CLSS) component of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban). “Under the second option, central assistance of ₹1.50 lakh per each house to be built on private lands would be provided, in case the beneficiaries do not intend to take bank loan,” he said.
The other six options include promoting affordable housing with private investments using government land. A few of the models include allocating government land to private firms based on the least cost of construction.
“Under this option, private builders can design, build and transfer houses built on government lands to public authorities... Payment to builders will be made by the public authority based on progress of project as per agreed upon milestones and buyers will pay to the government,” Singh said.
Under the six government land-based PPP models, beneficiaries can avail central assistance of ₹1 to 2.50 lakh per house as provisioned under different components of PMAY (Urban).
Beneficiaries will be identified as per the norms of PMAY (Urban). He said an online mechanism for time-bound approvals for building plans and construction permits has already been introduced in Mumbai and Delhi. Similar initiatives would be announced soon in 53 cities with population of above one million each, he added.
Besides, the government is planning to announce a Model Tenancy Act and National Rental Housing Policy soon, Singh said.