The West Bengal Government is planning to exit the joint sector real estate ventures or special purpose vehicles that it had once set up.

According to Alapan Bandhopadhyay, Principal Secretary, State Housing and Transport Department, these joint ventures will not be the “mainstay” of the housing department.

“The joint sectors that we set up are now getting closed. They were entered to create the cross subsidy component; which has now come under a cloud,” he said during a seminar organised by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Bandhopadhyay, however, neither clarified by when these joint ventures ventures would be closed, nor did he take specific queries on the matter.

According to sources, the Government has already engaged a professional firm to review the operations of these joint venture companies. The matter could not be independently verified.

Currently, the State Government has an equity stake in nine joint venture companies. These companies are, however, managed by private partners.

Supply of affordable homes

The West Bengal Government founded these companies in mid-1990s to augment the supply of affordable homes for low- and middle-income families.

Under the joint venture proposals, the State Government mandated that at least half of each project undertaken by these joint sector firms be reserved for people from low- and middle-income groups.

The State Government was to provide land to these special purpose vehicles (joint venture companies) and get a equity stake in return.

However, the policy suffered after the Trinamool Congress came to power and raised objections on the model; especially in relation to availability of excess land to these joint ventures. Since then, none of the existing joint ventures have been allotted land or new projects taken off, sources said.​

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