Town planning schemes, affordable housing must for country

Stressing on the need to build quality, safe and affordable houses for all, Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani on Friday termed “affordable housing” as an essential requirement in the time to come. “The state government approved 100 town planning schemes in 2018. 400 TP schemes are pending clearance. We plan to clear the backlog and also finalize new schemes for well-planned development. The government has also approved development plans of 10 cities,” the CM said at the inauguration of a 3-day property show organized by Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers, the Ahmedabad chapter of Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI). “Several decisions such as online approvals to building plans, issuance of non-agriculture (NA) certificate online, implementation of Common General Development Control Regulations (GDCR) and simplification RERA rules are in the interest of the real estate industry and developers,” said Rupani. “There are initial hiccups when new systems are put in place and government is working to resolve the problems. However, it has become a fashion to obstruct such changes,” he added. As far as Online Development Permission System (ODPS) is concerned, he made it clear that the developers will have to shift back to online system as offline approvals are allowed only temporarily till technical problems in ODPS are resolved. “The goods and services tax (GST) for construction sector is likely to be reduced in next GST council on Saturday,” he said. Stating that the government’s revenue increases 10% whenever stamp duty is cut by 20-30%, Jaxay Shah, national president, CREDAI, urged the government to reduce stamp duty on houses ranging from 60sq m to 90sq m. “The government should announce a policy for affordable housing,” he added. Several real estate developers are showcasing over 150 realty projects-residential and commercial-at the exhibition, which has seen participation from banks and other allied industries. “We have prepared GIHED Vision 2030 keeping in view that around 266 industries are dependent on the real estate sector,” added Ashish Patel, president, GIHED-CREDAI.