Real estate builders to meet CM

Once regarded as the most investor-friendly state in India, Maharashtra is now ranked behind Hyderabad, Karnataka and Chennai as an ideal destination for investments, thanks to the state's crumbling infrastructure.

To address these issues among others, the real estate industry in the state has organised a one-day convention under the aegis of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry and the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), Advantage Maharashtra, on July 31, 2006 at NCPA in Mumbai.

The convention will be inaugurated by the state Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Deputy Chief Minster RR Patil, Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, Urban Development Minister Rajesh Tope and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar are also expected to take part in the convention.

Industry experts will make presentations on topics ranging from taking initiatives to speed up reforms and attracting overseas funds to understanding international trends and construction of malls and multiplexes.

Shirish Godbole, secretary, CREDAI (Maharashtra) said, "The presentations will be made before the ministers with an emphasis on how this will impact development and attract FDI."

"The state has a conversion of just 18 per cent in the IT sector and that speaks of its ability to attract investment." said Lalit Kumar Jain, managing director, Kumar Builders and convener for the proposed convection.

Addressing press persons on the importance of the upcoming convention, Jain said, '' This convention is an attempt by the real estate industry to seek reforms and bring about changes, as red tape and bureaucracy are now endangering our business. We want to promote the idea of a single window clearance and uniform laws across the state that will have a few minor changes as required by an individual city."

About the present system, in which for each project a Pune builder needs to get clearances from 27 government departments and a Mumbai builder needs 56 No Objection Certificates (NOCs), Jain said, "the present system has many loopholes and slows down productivity, thus increasing costs for the end consumer. We are interested in a transparent system, which will allow mass production and reduce the costs." He stressed upon the fact that builders were not interested in speculative profits or corrupt practices any longer but are just looking for profits from turnover.

Chief among the issues to be presented before the ministers are, the repeal of the Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act, the need to frame a state housing / real estate policy on the lines of the national housing and habitat policy adopted by Parliament, the forming of a local funding scheme at the state level similar to the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mission, need for providing rental housing, need for uniform development control rules for all municipal corporations and councils of similar class throughout Maharashtra (except Mumbai), awarding incentives for promoting the slum redevelopment scheme and alignment of the national and state highways within municipal limits.

Also attending the convention are the heads of various banking and financial firms like S Shrinivasan, CEO, Kotak Realty Fund, KG Krishnamurti, CEO, HDFC Realty Fund and RajivSabharwal, Chief, ICICI Credit.