‘Govt must use land from lossmaking entities for homes’
HOUSING PLAN Panel suggests disposing of lands at reserve price
NEW DELHI: Affordable housing projects of the government should be given priority while disposing of land assets of lossmaking Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE), a committee headed by cabinet secretary PK Sinha has said.
The committee has also suggested that such land, that will be utilised for building affordable houses, should be disposed of at a reserve price which is fixed based on the circle rate of the area. The reserve price will be fixed by the land management agency appointed by the government.
The recommendations, if accepted by the Union cabinet, will give a further leg-up to the sector, which got a fillip recently after the Centre increased the carpet area of houses for the middle income group eligible for interest subsidy under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
Government sources said a committee of secretaries (COS) headed by cabinet secretary PK Sinha gave these suggestions at a meeting on October 20. The COS was reviewing the earlier guidelines of the Department of Public
Enterprises (DPE) related to disposal of land belonging to sick CPSES.
In the 2015 guidelines, affordable housing projects were put on the back burner. The priority, while disposing of such land was given to central/state government departments and PSUS.
“But the COS has recommended that instead of all flagship program, the first priority should be given to affordable housing projects under the government’s Housing for All programme,” a senior government official told HT.
As per the 2015-16 Public Enterprises Survey, of the 320 CPSES, 78 are loss making. Official estimates put the land available with such CPSES upward of 200 sq km. Federal think tank NITI Aayog has recommended the closure of 26 such entities.
The panel further recommended that after affordable housing, the next priority should be given to other central and state government departments, followed by private parties. It has recommended appointing National Building Construction Corporation as the land management agency for the exercise.
Vidyadhar Pathak, former chief of town & country planning department in the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, said the proposed move is in the right direction, considering how land is the most critical component in any affordable housing programme.
But at the same time, the government will have to do a delicate balancing act, he cautioned. “If the idea is to dispose of land assets of sick CPSES, then they will be looking for commercial price rather than pre-determined price decided by the government. How do you reconcile the two? Also, many of the CPSES are located in the outskirts. Unless you address job and transportation issues of the targeted beneficiaries, no one will go there,” Pathak said.