STAFF REPORTER / NEW DELHI
Former Union Minister and BJP MP Suresh Prabhu today said that real Estate is the only sector which can link manufacturing & services, and has the potential to provide huge job opportunities.
Addressing the inaugural session at ASSOCHAM National Summit – Real Estate India here, Mr Prabhu said the real estate sector has the ability to link villages to urban areas thereby creating opportunities and jobs which is an important preoccupation for the present economy.
While appreciating the National Rental Housing Policy announced in the Budget, Niranjan Hiranandani, Senior Vice President of Assocham, pointed out the need for stress fund and guarantee procedure for positive projects.
Pinaki Misra, Member of Parliament, emphasised on solving of legacy issues in the sector like simplification of basic documents, digitisation of land records, 3 year tax holiday in order to pick up good market sentiment.
The Centre has invited comments from all the stakeholders and states on The Model Tenancy Act, 2019 and will take it to the Union Cabinet as soon as possible, said Mr DurgaShanker Mishra, secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs at an ASSOCHAM event held in New Delhi today.
“As of now we have uploaded draft on our website for 21 days to invite comments, we have sent it to states and we are expecting their comments within 15 days, thereafter we will re-examine everything and will take it to the Cabinet,” said Mr Mishra in his inaugural address at an ASSOCHAM Real Estate Summit.
He added, “The Model Tenancy Act, 2019 once finalised and after Union Cabinet’s approval, will be shared with all the states, we have signed an MoU with all states under the Housing for All programme, as per which states would either amend their Acts or make a new Act. All the states are ready and they are awaiting this Model Act as it will be beneficial for them.”
The proposed law, said Mr Mishra, promotes a balanced, transparent and accountable relationship between the renter and the rentee based on the rent agreement. “This will give a boost to the rental market.”
The secretary also said that the facility for online building approval and completion certificate provided by urban local bodies (ULBs) would be made available in all cities across India within this year itself.
“We are trying our level best to ensure that within this year this seamless facility is extended across India through ULBs so that when you apply for building permission, you get the approval within 30 days and if you apply for completion certificate, you get the approval within 15 days,” he said.
Mr Mishra added, “Online building permission system is as of now in 1,705 cities and in 11 states it is 100 per cent and we will spread it across all cities in India by end of this year.”
He stated that it will be a single-window system which would provide seamless facility and allay problems of people in terms of going to different places to seek permissions.
He also said that new houses are being constructed under various government schemes using different kinds of modern technologies and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is making efforts to further promote low-cost construction technologies.
“I have directed my team to very soon organise an exhibition to showcase how people across India have come up with various low-cost technologies to construct single or double storey houses to reduce the cost of construction leading to judicious use of resources,” said Mr Mishra.
Lauding the efforts of real estate industry, the secretary said that realty sector is the key player in progress and transformation of country into a ‘New India,’ which is clean, free of corruption, without any type of indiscrimination and is full of hope and aspirations.
Besides, considering the importance of the sector in terms of contribution to the GDP, employment generation and other aspects, the government in the past five years took various decisions on policy front, programme and scheme levels and will further take steps in next five years, as efforts are still to revive this sector.
On the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), he said that it has ushered in accountability, transparency and honesty in real estate sector. “We came up with a new law RERA in 2016 which is equally beneficial for all stakeholders be it homebuyers, builders, real estate agents and even the government. We are thinking about making amendments to this law as many people approach us in this regard.”
The event had key panel discussions by industry experts, promoters and several stakeholders on issues of ease of doing business for real estate sector, RERA, investment opportunities and growth strategies, Finance and Insolvency and Bankruptcy code for the sector.