INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - March 16st - March 31st - 2008
ANDHRA PRADESH REPEALS URBAN LAND CEILING ACT
Around 20,000 hectares of land in and around Hyderabad is set to be freed for development, with the Andhra Pradesh state assembly passing a resolution to repeal the over threedecade old Urban Land Ceiling Act.
Until now, individuals could hold only 1,000 sq mt (1,196 square yards).
But this ceiling will go with the repeal of this act. Realty prices which had sky-rocketed due to short supply could stabilise now. It would attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector, claimed real estate analysts.
All states barring West Bengal and Chattisgarh have already repealed the act.
The state’s revenue minister D Prasada Rao said the move will free up large tracts of land in urban areas that are entangled now in litigation. “It would benefit the poor and middle class to secure a piece of land in cities. It would also give a fillip to housing activity as several ancillary industries are dependent on this sector that generates employment next only to agriculture,” he said.
The ULCA extends to five urban agglomerates — Hyderabad, Warangal, Guntur, Vijaywada and Visakhapatnam. The World Bank that has agreed to fund the AP Urban Basic Services Project had also asked the state government to repeal the act, along with other reform measures.
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