Our Economy Bureau

Kolkata, Dec 15: Prime minister AB Vajpayee has announced a national meet on housing involving all the chief ministers before the forthcoming Budget session. A national consensus will also be sought on repealing of the Urban Land Ceiling Act as also bring in a new Rent Control Act, he said.

Addressing a national conference on housing ‘operation shelter’ here on Saturday, the prime minister said housing is on the priority list of his government, and pointed out that by end 2010, there will be a need for as many as 3.3 crore housing units, and expressed the hope that housing sector will become the second largest source of employment.

Supporting his housing minister Ananth Kumar’s statement that the Urban Land Ceiling Act needs to be repealed, he said also hinted at enacting a new legislation on rent control.

While, the prime minister said, to promote housing, low interest bearing long-term loans on easy instalments have to be made available, Mr Kumar pointed out that non-availability of finance has been a big hurdle in developing housing in the rural areas.

Mr Vajpayee also admitted that it is not possible for the government alone to develop housing units on its own. “It cannot be fulfilled by the government alone, the private sector will have to participate,” he said.

Mr Kumar said the Housing Development Corp has already done a commendable job by constructing 36-odd lakh dwelling units in the past three years, adding half of these units have already been completed. Earlier, West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya requested the Centre to unlock the huge tracts of unutilised lands with the Railways and the Kolkata Port Trust and also other local government bodies.

Mr Bhattacharya also pointed out that housing is one of the prime concerns of the government. He said the state over the past few years has built as many as 32,000 dwelling units in the urban areas alone.