BENGALURU: Land prices in the IT city have been shooting up and are almost equal to prices in Washington or New York, said Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu here on Tuesday.
Terming the increase in land price as “meaningless”, Naidu said the Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) is expected to streamline the construction industry. Naidu was in Bengaluru to conduct review meetings with various departments regarding projects for the state.
“So far 14 states have issued RERA. Karnataka is yet to issue it. I have learnt that the Karnataka government is expected to notify RERA in 15 days,” he said.The minister said RERA makes sure the builder constructs a building according to prospects given to a consumer, failing which they face action. The main aim is to make the consumer the king, he added.
He urged the state government to implement new reforms, including speedy construction permits, credit ratings for towns, clarity in land titles and faster conversion of land. Considering revenue, population, reforms and repaying capacity as some of the parameters, every municipal area, town will be given a credit rating. This according to him will attract private investors.
State gets D714cr sanction orders
The state government on Tuesday received D714 crore worth of sanction orders from the Union urban development department for Smart City, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Swachh Bharat Mission and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). With this, the total is D4,953 crore for three years ending 2018. The projects will be taken up on a fund sharing basis with the Centre providing a total of D2,319 crore and the state and urban local bodies having to put in the rest. Under the Smart City Project, the Union government has identified six cities in the state. The state government was granted D428 crore to develop Shivamogga, Mangaluru, Tumakuru and Hubballi-Dharwad. The Centre has provided D200 crore each to Belagavi and Davangere.