The government should launch a special scheme to promote affordable housing because costly land is coming in the way of providing shelter to millions in the country, industry experts said.
"There is a high rate of inflation... Land cost is huge in the country. So developers cannot build affordable houses without government help," Parsvnath Developers Chairman Pradeep Jain said at a panel discussion on real estate here yesterday.
Jain suggested the government should start a special scheme for accelerating the construction of affordable houses in the country.
"There should be no charge on development cost and no restriction should be applied on the developers," Jain said, adding that demand for affordable housing is large but adequate quality land was not available at a reasonable cost.
Favouring the government's intervention to give a fillip to affordable housing, Omaxe Chairman and Managing Director Rohtas Goel said: "There is an artificial scarcity of land created in the country... No cushion is left in the hands of developers to reduce the prices."
On the global economic downturn, Jain said it was a temporary phenomenon.
"We (real estate industry) do not want any bailout, but only liquidity for development works," he said, adding that the RBI has reduced rates for credit availability, but lending is not taking place even now.