ROAD NETWORKS - MANJU FOUNDATIONS

ROAD NETWORKS

7.6.59 According to a study conducted by the real
estate management company, C.B. Richard Ellis,
the returns on commercial property in India are
among the highest in the world. Mumbai prime
property fetches returns of 13 per cent, New Delhi
12 per cent and Bangalore 11 per cent. In contrast,
returns in London are 5.3 per cent and in Singapore
4.8 per cent. Lack of space is not the reason for
these high returns because India is a huge country
while Singapore is just a tiny city. Various reasons
have been put forward to explain the curious
phenomenon of astronomical real estate values in
a poor country. The real reason, however,is the
distorted market for real estate combined with the
under-supply of roads. Absurd land ceiling and
rental laws combined with high stamp duties have
skewed the real estate market towards a situation
of perennial shortage. Roads add to the supply of
land by connecting villages to towns and this makes
land available to the urban economy. This keeps
land prices down. It also reduces the rural-urban
migration, easing the pressure on cities.
7.6.60 Unfortunately, roads have long been
neglected by our policy makers. Roads are a ‘public
good’ and, therefore, an area where State investment
is required. However, the ‘planned economy’
has failed to invest sufficiently in roads even as it
has been investing in cars and running hotels. This
has put pressure on land in cities, causing urban
land prices to soar.
7.6.61 It is now time to usher in a free market in
real estate development. With roads, tramways and
rail connections to the surrounding areas, a lot of
rural land will be ‘developed’. All these parcels of
land will add to the total supply of real estate and
this will work to keep prices down.

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

7.6.62 The real estate market is currently characterised
by small players. None of the local developers
have a truly national presence and large
companies are still not fully involved in real estate
development. None of the current players have the financial strength to invest in large-scale development
projects. The development of new towns
and cities would require huge massive investment
and technical expertise that domestic players alone
cannot provide. One way to overcome this hurdle
is to raise funds through the FDI route. However,
right now, FDI in the real estate sector is allowed
only for the development of integrated townships.
7.6.63 Allowing FDI in the real estate sector will
result in the following advantages:
(i) It will provide the much-needed investment
for the funds-starved sector;
(ii) it will bring in professional players
equipped with expertise in real estate
development;
(iii) the introduction of new technology and
quality real estate assets will have a
demonstration effect on the local
developers;
(iv) it will lower real estate costs in the long
run;
(v) it will generate employment and revenue;
and
(vi) it will improve the quality of related
infrastructure.
7.6.64 The real estate sector needs to be opened
up to FDI as returns in the form of rentals (annual
investment yield) and capital appreciation are
assured. Rentals in Indian cities are amongst the
highest across the world. The average yield from
investments in commercial property has ranged
between 11-13 per cent per annum in India over
the last few years. Across the world, real estate is
a preferred option for foreign investors. It is
estimated that roughly, half the FDI flow into China
is for the housing sector only.
7.6.65 But the stumbling block is the fear that
foreign investors may repatriate all the profits.
These apprehensions are fuelled by the fact that
the Southeast Asian financial crisis was partly the
result of short-term investments in the real estate
sector in these countries leading to flight of capital.To guard against this, a minimum lock-in period
of three years must be fixed on investments
and care should be taken to ensure that no
long-term investment is funded by short-term
capital.
7.6.66 Opening up the real estate sector
will bring in substantial foreign investments
into India which would result in developing
the real estate market and making it
more efficient. This is also likely to give a
big fillip to the construction industry,
which has tremendous spin-offs, especially
in terms of employment generation.
These issues are discussed more fully in
Chapter 7.7.
7.6.67 Legal problems, small individual
land holdings, untraceable records and
unavailability of organised finance are
major entry barriers to FDI in real estate. These
need to be tackled before the sector is
opened up.
MUNICIPAL LAWS, RULES & PROCEDURES
Municipal Laws
7.6.68 Most urban and municipal laws and regulations
in India date back to half a century if not
more. There is a need to thoroughly review and
modernise them in the light of the latest developments
in urban infrastructure, transport, pollution
control etc. A committee of eminent persons from
the concerned fields should be set up to draw up a
model municipal law. Such a law must make
provision for private investment in and supply of all
public utilities and services. It must ensure that the
municipal authority focuses its attention on data
gathering, analysis, planning, organisation and
monitoring. In other words, the government should
play the role of the facilitator more than that of the
provider.
Zoning Rules
7.6.69 In an ever-changing urban scene, the
zoning regulations are in a constant state of flux with no systemic reviews or updation taking place.
There is need to establish a regulatory commission
to continuously review the zone shifts and activity
shifts as demographic patterns change in urban
areas.
7.6.70 The failure of the Master Plan for Delhi is
a case in point. The most important cause of this is
the poor and inadequate implementation of the Plan
during the first 20 years of its existence from 1961
to 1981. Most of the provisions made for various
facilities in the Plan were not realised on the ground.
Space made available for housing, retail, commercial
offices, service industry, small-scale
industry, as well as for educational, social and
cultural institutions was far below the provisions
made in the Master Plan. The implementating
agency, the DDA, notified and acquired all the land
required for the future growth of the city, but failed
to develop it on a scale and at a speed sufficient to
meet actual need. In such circumstances, restrictions
on change of use of land and premium
charged by authorities like DDA/Directorate of
Industries are matters to be investigated.
Approval Procedures
7.6.71 Another serious malaise affecting investment
in the real estate sector and housing development
is the tardy process of planning approvals. A
system of deemed approvals for all planning
permissions by registered architects operating on
the basis of self-regulation much like chartered
accountants do, would enormously speed up the
entire plan approval process. This will ensure that
far larger quantum of housing stock is supplied
every year, at more reasonable prices than is the
case presently.
CONSUMER PROTECTION
7.6.72 Real estate came under the purview of the
Consumer Protection Act (1986) in 1993 after an
amendment to the definition of ‘service’ in Section
2(1) 0 of the Act to include the term ‘housing
construction’. However, there are still several
lacunae relating to consumer protection. 7.6.73 Under the provisions of this Act, housing
is considered a ‘service’ not ‘goods’. If housing is
treated as ‘goods’ then replacement or liquidated
damages can be claimed if it is defective, unlike in
the case of breach of service provision, which
requires only payment of a penalty. Further, pricing
is covered under the Act under the ‘unfair trade
practice’ as applicable to goods. By defining housing
as a `service’, unfair practices related to pricing of
housing are not covered. However, merely defining
housing as ‘goods’ will not solve all problems. The
responsibility of making the right choice under the
Act rests with the consumer and the seller is
protected from giving a warranty of the goods. Thus,
even if housing were to be included as a good, the
very definition of ‘good’ adopted in the Act may need
to be reviewed to give adequate protection to a
purchaser of housing.
PATH AHEAD
7.6.74 There are three critical issues in real estate
development - archaic rules and regulations, lack
of affordable finance on a mass scale and
inadequate land availability.
Legislative Reforms
a. Revise the number of legislations governing
property transactions and merge
them into one comprehensive law.
b. The repeal of the Urban Land (Ceiling &
Regulation) Act by various states which
have not done so is necessary. This is
expected to facilitate the release of 2.2 lakh
hectares of urban land, which remains
frozen.
c. Amend the Rent Control Act so as to
remove the absolute authority of the rent
controller over the disposition of the rented
property. This allows the rent controller to
virtually divest the owners of the natural
right to his property and transfer it to the
tenant. The Rent Control Act must limit
itself to ensuring a level playing field in
terms of rent (adjustment) negotiations and
a reasonable period for vacation of property. Market rates must be allowed to
prevail in the medium term. Instilling
confidence in the owners would lead to
release of vacant houses into the market
within the levels of affordability of the
tenants.
d. Amendment of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899
and the Indian Registration Act to delink
the process of registration from the
payment of stamp duty and also to liberate
the registration process from the requirement
of various no-objection certificates.
e. Rationalise the tax rates and duties pertaining
to the real estate sector. States
should reduce stamp duties from the
present range of 13-26 per cent to the level
of 3-5 per cent. Stamp duty rates must
also be uniform across States. The
perceived loss in stamp duty revenues will
be more than compensated through
increased disclosure of property sales and
the correct value of the property transacted.
Property tax must be linked to the
capital value of the property than on the
rental value of the property. Entertainment
tax rates must be reduced.
f. The principles of law applicable to statements
made in a prospectus should also
apply to the sale of property. This will also
facilitate the institutionalisation of conveyances
and conveyancers can investigate
titles and cross-linkages between
municipal authorities, electricity boards,
taxation departments, land registries and
collectorates can be easily facilitated
through hyperlinks.
g. A formal system for enabling private
participation in the provision of municipal
services will provide access to the skills
required for improving the efficiency of
urban services and make them selfsustaining
in the long run. Pricing municipal
services rationally will ensure enough
funds for the maintenance and expansion
of municipal services. Municipal authorities
maybe allowed to raise funds by
issuing municipal bonds.