Land acquisition draft to escalate housing prices: CREDAI

The apex realty body CREDAI today said that purchase of private land should not be covered under the proposed land acquisition bill else housing prices would rise sharply and the township development would be difficult.

The Ministry of Rural Development has posted 'The Draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) Bill, 2011' on its website for public comments.

According to the draft, R&R provisions will apply only when private firms buy land, equal to or more than 100 acres, on their own and if they approach the government for partial acquisition for public purpose.

The association, which has more than 6,000 developers as members, said that the provisions of rehabilitation and resettlement to land owners for private land transactions is "unwarranted" and should be done away with.

"The draft bill is detrimental to urbanisation...The township development will become history if it is passed in the present form," CREDAI President Lalit Kumar Jain said.

"No private land acquisition should be covered under the proposed Act. If this is covered, housing prices will go up multifold," he said, adding that private transactions happen on mutual consent and at fair market value.

In case of urban areas, the compensation amount would be not less than twice that of the market value determined, whereas in rural areas it would be not less than six times the original market value, according to the draft bill.

R&R package also includes giving certain percentage of developed land back to landowners, housing and employment among others to the affected farmers.

"In R&R benefits, the stipulation regarding giving 20% of the developed land back to owner will make township project unviable for the middle-class buyer," CREDAI said.

The association spoke against social impact assessment (SIA), which has been made mandatory where area to be acquired is equal to or greater than 100 acres, saying that this provision would delay the projects.

The association pointed out that the blanket ban on acquisition of multi-cropped land is "impractical", especially in north India where all the land falls in this category.