Bill to Regulate Realty Sector Soon

The Kerala government is planning to introduce a slew of measures to streamline the real estate sector, said Minister for Urban Affairs and Welfare of Minorities, Manjalamkuzhi Ali. The steps include setting up of a real estate authority, online registration facility for developers and amendments to the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Act. Inaugurating Recon 2014, Kerala’s first real estate convention, organised by the Kerala Realtors Association (KRA) in collaboration with National Association of Realtors -India (NAR-India), the Minister said the government is giving its final touches to the Real Estate Authority Bill and a draft of the proposed Bill would be available in the public domain within a month’s time. “You like it or not, the state government is keen to infuse the much needed order into the real estate sector. In connection with this, we will soon bring out a draft of the Real Estate Authority Bill within a month’s time.

The Bill will be finalised after consultation with all stake holders in the sector. We are open to suggestions,” the Minister said. The bill will be along the lines of the Real Estate Authority Bill introduced by the Central government. The government also plans to roll out measures to combat unprofessionalism and graft in the sector by introducing online registration facility for builders and property developers. The graft involved in getting clearances from the authorities concerned to construct a building is enormous and this in fact leads to an escalation of the project cost. The new system will do away with these illegal practices and make the process transparent.

The form should be filled in the proper format and submitted and the clearance for the building construction will be given on or before thirty days’ time. The new system will come into effect from June 1. The government has started a training facility to the officials concerned to introduce them to the new facility, he added. He said the state cannot afford to stick to the CRZ norms due to the acute scarcity of land in the state. Out of the entire land in the state, only 30% is available for development, thanks to the topography of the state. Therefore, it is literally not pragmatic to adhere to the CRZ norms. “We have already approached the Central government seeking exemptions from the CRZ norms,” he said.

The amendments to the Kerala Municipal Building Rules have given the much needed impetus to the builders and the property developers’ the Minister said.Minister for Fisheries, Ports and Excise K Babu in his address said that due to the geographical pattern typical to Kerala, the demand for land is great. “We have one of the highest population density and very low land availability. This creates enormous pressure and demand for the land available for development,” he said. K V Mathew, chairman, convention, Sachin Shroff, president, National Association of Realtors (NAR), S N Raghuchandran Nair, chairman, The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) and S Unnikrishan, senior vice-president, Sobha Developers, also spoke on the occasion.

with thanks : newindianexpress : LINK