Punjab asks realty players to set up affordable housing projs

Punjab government today asked private builders to invest in setting up affordable housing projects as there is a shortage of 12 lakh houses in the state.
"There is a shortage of 12 lakh houses in Punjab. For this, huge land bank is required and there is a lot of scope for private builders to invest in houses for EWS and provide affordable houses," Punjab Secretary Housing and Urban Development A Venu Prasad said here.
He was addressing a FICCI conference on 'Housing and Urban Development in North India - Focus: Punjab & Tri-City'.
He said out of 12 lakh houses, there is a shorage of 10 lakh houses in urban while remaining in rural areas in Punjab.

"Seventy per cent of the total housing shortage in Punjab is in Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Lower Income Group," he said.
Venu Prasad said that the state government was also providing incentives such as exemption from CLU, EDC charges for setting up houses for EWS.

He said currently 40 per cent of state population lives in urban areas and it will grow by another 40 per cent in next 10 years.
On upcoming projects, Venu Prasad said the international airport near Mohali is expected to be ready by July, 2015.
He further said that the state government was developing 'New Chandigarh' at Mullanpur on 6,000 hectares of land.

In New Chandigarh, medi city project is proposed to be set up which will boast of medial colleges, university and super specially hospitals.
Already 50 acres of land has been allotted for setting up Tata Cancer Institute, he said.
Earlier, speaking on this occasion, Punjab Governor Shivraj V Patil asked builders and real estate developers to push urbanization in a correct manner.
On this occasion, a report on 'Transition from urban to realty lab: Punjab and Chandigarh tri-city' was released.
The report said that development of large scale IT infrastructure and modernization and expansion of Chandigarh International Airport is expected to contribute to a rise in demand in hospitality segment.

Hotels in tri-city (Mohali, Chandigarh, Panchkula) have seen a marginal 3 per cent to 5 per cent increase in occupancy levels over last year, report said.
The Chandigarh airport has witnessed a 29 per cent growth rate in arrivals by air in past 4 years with their number increasing from 0.66 million in 2010-11 to 1.06 million in 2012-13.
"Consequently, hotels have seen an increase in demand from Meeting Incentive Conference Exhibition (MICE) segment and corporate travelers that account for 60-70 per cent of total demand," report said.