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The President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee has underlined the need for all stakeholders of the housing and real estate sector to join hands and work for achieving the objective of housing for all. Shri Mukherjee was delivering his inaugural address at the 11th National Convention on Sustainable Housing for Masses being organized by National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) here today.

Reiterating that housing and real estate sector hold the key to economic prosperity of the country, Shri Pranab Mukherjee said that Government Schemes alone cannot address the problems, the private sector which would also benefit from well managed urban centers have an important role to play in the effort. He said that Government has taken several measures to address challenges in urban sector. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, launched by Government of India in 2005 has yielded some dividends, but more needs to be done to achieve synergy in partnership schemes with the private sector using PPP models. Mortgage Guarantee Fund and Interest Subsidy Schemes have been launched to safeguard the interest of bankers and help beneficiaries. This is a major and significant step that has been taken by the Government to resolve the housing problem of the urban poor, the President added.

Recognizing the problems faced by the low income groups in getting access to the credit/loans from the banks, Shri Pranab Mukherjee expressed his confidence that banks would rise to face this challenge and evolve innovative methods to allow greater credit flow to this segment. He hoped that Mortgage Guarantee Fund and Interest Subsidy Scheme launched recently will make the credit flow to these segments easy. The President also suggested that both government and the private sector should look at ways to augment land supply for housing. He also emphasized the need to look at the challenges associated with land acquisition, township planning, project approval and skill development.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Ajay Maken, Union Minister for Housing & Poverty Alleviation ensured the real estate developers that the Government will extend full support in every endeavor to further the cause of sustainable housing which is affordable to the urban poor. He emphasized the need of development of convergence and synergy between various stakeholders. Availability of sustainable homes is of prime importance for building socially inclusive cities, he added.

In order to provide greater outreach for the housing schemes of the Government, Shri Maken said that his Ministry has recently revised the income ceilings for qualifying under various schemes. Through recent initiative of Credit Risk Guarantee Fund urban poor will able to get easy credit from the banks without providing collateral guarantee. Bringing transparency the real estate will go a long way in ensuring orderly growth of the sector. For this, Shri Maken said his Ministry is in the process of formulation of a real estate (Regulation & Development Bill) after taking inputs from all stakeholders.

RM/RS
(Release ID :90180)