Developers need to focus on affordable rental housing as land acquisition has become one of the biggest constraints in urban India, the Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister, Ms Kumari Selja, said here on Friday.

Admitting that over-regulation had distorted the land market in India, the Minister said the Government was taking a serious relook at archaic laws in this regard. She was addressing developers and bankers at an event on affordable housing here on Friday, organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

The Minister called upon real estate players to come up with innovative ideas on rental housing as an option for economically weaker sections in urban areas.

Addressing developers’ concerns, Ms Kumari Selja said the Government was looking at single-window clearance for the multiple clearances required for housing construction. ”This will hopefully reduce the time consumed for approvals to six-eight weeks, which could ultimately reduce the cost of houses by 25 to 40 per cent” she added.

She said the Government had formed a committee in to evolve a workable strategy in this regard. The committee, under chairmanship of Mr Dhanendra Kumar, former Chairman, Competition Commission of India, will submit its report in four months, she added.

The Minister said the recently-established Credit Risk Guarantee Fund Trust was coming up with a scheme to provide loans up to Rs 5 lakh for low-income housing.

“The initial corpus of this fund will be Rs 1,000 crore and we hope it will catalyse about Rs 20,000 crore of affordable housing credit,” she added.

Mr Naveen Raheja, chairman of ASSOCHAM real estate committee, called for partnerships on affordable housing between the Central, State Governments, urban local bodies, people’s cooperatives and the private sector.”

aditi.n@thehindu.co.in

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