The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday opened the union territory to the country's real estate investors by signing 39 MoUs worth nearly Rs 19,000 crore for the development of housing, hotel and commercial projects.
Terming the signing of the MoUs at J&K's first Real Estate Summit here as "historic'', Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said it is a major step towards transformation of the UT. Addressing a press conference at the summit, he said the government has already implemented the realty law RERA and adopted the Model Tenancy Act in the UT. He assured realtors that the government will reduce stamp duty on registration of properties in line with other states and set up a single-window system for faster approval of projects.
"We have signed 39 MoUs today. We have received investment proposals of Rs 18,300 crore," he told reporters here. The industry body Naredco said in a statement that MOUs worth Rs 18,900 crore have been signed by many developers including Hiranandani group, Signature Global, NBCC and Raheja Developers. The summit was organised by the J&K government, Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and realtors' body NAREDCO.
Sinha said these MoUs will help generate employment opportunities in J&K, and also boost the economy of the UT. He also announced that a similar real estate summit will be held in Srinagar on May 21-22 next year. Asked about opposition parties' allegations that land parcels of the local people will be taken away in the name of development, Sinha said this is an "effort to create fear and incite people". There will be no demographic change, he added.
Earlier addressing the event, Sinha said some people do not want the people of J&K get facilities and development like other states. There have been attempts to mislead people of J&K, he said, and cited this as one of the reasons for unemployment and lack of development. Stating that J&K has talent and potential, Sinha said the days are not far when the UT will be at par with other States. "We will break all such walls" that will try to create hurdles in development for the interest of the common people of J&K, he asserted.
The Lieutenant Governor said the real estate developers have been asked to partner with local builders of the UT so that local people also get share of the development process. There have been revolutionary changes in J&K during the last two years, he said asserting that the UT is providing 100 per cent more incentive than Uttar Pradesh. The Article 370 was abrogated on August 5, 2019, and the state was divided into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Sinha said the government has identified 6,000 acres of land for the development of projects and that it has also made rules for change of land usage of agriculture land. Sinha highlighted that Rs 44,000 crore worth investment proposals under a new industrial scheme have been announced by his government and hoped that the number will reach Rs 60,000 crore soon. He said that the government will also offer its own land under the new industrial policy for development of projects.
Sinha said people who own the land should have the freedom to decide how they want to use their land parcels. As many as 20 MOUs were signed at the summit for development of housing projects, while seven were inked for commercial, four hospitality, three infratech, three film and entertainment and two finance projects. The real estate companies that signed MoUs include Signature Global, Samyak Group, Raunak Group, Hiranandani Constructions and NBCC for housing projects. Chalet Hotels signed MoU for hospitality. Raheja Developers, Goel Ganga, GHP Group and Shree Naman Group signed initial pacts for housing projects.
-With PTI Inputs
