To give a boost to the affordable housing segment, there should be some incentive for developers to participate in this segment, said Mr Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC Ltd.

Currently, the delays and cost overruns arising out of multiple approvals from various authorities work as disincentives for developers in this segment. Therefore, a time-bound, fast track, single window approval mechanism for affordable housing projects which offers houses between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 15 lakh is preferable over tax sops, Mr Parekh said in the company's annual report for 2010-11.

Mr Parekh also urged the Government to implement e-auction of land transactions. This will ensure a transparent mechanism to sell land which is locked with government entities and allow them to unlock the value from land, he pointed out.

ULCRA

Some of the other suggestions that have been put forward include a single ministry to deal with urbanisation and housing, streamlining of all existing government housing finance programmes and setting up of a special ‘Settlement Commission' for cases under Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act (ULCRA).

Currently, there are too many fragmented government housing finance schemes which have little impact in terms of the scale of the housing problem. The amounts budgeted for these schemes are miniscule and the actual utilisations are even lower, Mr Parekh pointed out.

With reference to cases under ULCRA, he said, “After over a decade of the repeal of the ULCRA, there are many properties still in litigation under this Act. A special ‘Settlement Commission' for ULCRA cases will free up properties that have otherwise been kept out of the supply of developable urban space.”

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