Single window clearance for layout approvals by next year: Venkaiah Naidu
Single window clearance for layout approvals by next year: Venkaiah Naidu
The ministry of housing and urban development is likely to put in place a single window time-bound clearance system for layout approvals and building permissions by the beginning of next year, union minister M Venkaiah Naidu has said.
“It is a long pending demand of the industry, on national level I am working with six ministers and I have a group of ministers’ meeting, I have held four rounds of meetings with secretaries and ministers of environment, defence, civil supplies, civil aviation and others,” Naidu said while inaugurating a national summit on Housing for All-Catalyst for development and inclusive growth, organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
“The last meeting is on October 14 after that we will submit the report to cabinet and then we will go ahead because we are getting permissions from these departments and by the beginning of the next year, I am sure you will have this in place,” said the union minister.
On Gujarat topping the World Bank’s ranking of states on the ease of doing business in India, Naidu said, “It shows that Gujarat model is working.” “Some people in the recent past started saying Gujarat model is a failure, people of Gujarat are not innocent to have three times continuously elected the same chief minister, Gujarat is on top now even the World Bank has also recognised it,” he added.
He said that other states should also improve their performance and prepare for the next round of assessment. “We want every state to be progressive, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar should also participate in this race as and there is no point in criticising the Prime Minister Modi and Gujarat,” he said.
“I am requesting all states to please understand the present position and streamline things and see to it that ease of doing business is made simple so that we get more and more investments in our states,” he added.
He also said that real estate sector needs to focus on green building technologies and adopt appropriate, cost-effective building materials, reduce dependence on conventional energy intensive construction practices. Conceding that employment generation is a major challenge, the union minister said, “If you can push the real estate sector, if you really give credit to the infrastructure sector and also to the (IT) information technology sector then Indian youth will get better employment opportunities.”
He also said that India will surpass China in economic growth. “Going by the global economic crisis, seeing what is happening in China and going by India’s large young population and our commitment to reforms, India is growing to grow faster than China and there is no competition as of now with others also.”
In her address, Nandita Chatterjee, secretary, ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation (HUPA), said that real estate players should develop an app or a system whereby people can locate the houses available. “Is it possible when we do our dissemination to try it up with some kind of an app or a system where the people also get to know where is the supply located,” said Chatterjee.