The government is looking for new sources for financing housing and infrastructure facilities requiring an investment of Rs 400,000 crore (Rs 4,000 billion), which cannot be met by way of budgetary allocation, Urban Development Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Friday.
"In order to provide housing for all, better infrastructure and services, we require an estimated investment of about Rs 150,000 crore (Rs 1,500 billion) for housing and above Rs 250,000 crore (Rs 2,500 billion) for urban infrastructure," he said inaugurating a two-day convention of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India.
Observing that the huge requirement of funds could not be met by way of budgetary allocation from the Centre and the state governments, he said: "The government is looking for new sources for financing housing, infrastructure facilities and services and the real estate developers can play an important role in this."
Lauding the quality of work done by the developers, Azad said it appeared that the quality of work by the private sector was better than that of the government agencies.
Privatisation of the sector could be given a thought, he said adding, "I feel why not go in for privatisation," he said. The minister said for the massive construction activities required during the next couple of decades, the developers would have to play a major role.
Observing that the government could play the role of a facilitator, he said by the next year, each state government should lower the stamp duty on real estate to five per cent as already done by Maharashtra and Goa.