PC for establishing land privatisation commission

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

PC for establishing land privatisation commission: releasing state-owned land for commercial purposes
ISLAMABAD (February 08, 2011) : The Planning Commission (PC) has proposed a land privatisation commission to release all the unproductive land owned by the state for commercial purposes. In its paper titled 'new growth framework, it proposed that the government ownership of city-centre land needed to be reduced to strengthen the decentralisation to allow city planners adequate control over their land and resources.

The government ownership is retarding growth, therefore, land banks at provincial level be set up to release idle state-owned land in favour of dense mixed use places to encourage public-private partnerships. The current state of cities in Pakistan is abysmal and urban population is escalating at a rapid rate of 3 percent with the existing urban population of 60 million (36% of the total population).

The city dwellers do not have much say in the running of the city. But a great deal of involvement by the government bodies is apparent in taking managerial and administrative decisions. The prevalent confusion regarding how modern cities should be governed is growing acute. The lack of affordable space and poor commercial laws has hindered the growth of cities.

There is need that all legislative bodies must review rent laws and remove clauses which unjustifiably favour tenants and restrict the functioning of the rental market, zoning laws should be improved and made transparent and modernise land registration system by electronically recording all transfers of land title in a centralised data base.

Housing information system should be established to provide data on housing demand and supply from the district level to the national level. It should also include Housing Price Index and Housing Access Index with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Statistics. A regulatory body must also be established for property dealers to register themselves officially. Relax zoning and building regulations to enable dense development of housing and vertical expansion.

There is a need to reduce cost of construction by encouraging foreign developers to compete in the Pakistani market and facilitate research and development in low cost and energy efficient construction techniques. Increase access to housing finance through sound foreclosure laws and computerised credit information. Curtail growth of Katchi Abadis by using market based solutions to produce low income housing. The above stated issues need immediate reform efforts so that appropriate economic geography can help Pakistan grow better, the paper added.