An Explainer: Land Pooling

When we collect small parts of something to create a bigger stock, the process is called pooling. So, when we say land pooling, we mean that many land owners have agreed to give their land for development to one authority, in return for certain benefits. Governments often create land pools to develop large-scale infrastructure projects. Private developers, too, keep land pools ready for future developments. In fact, the large townships that we see around the periphery of major cities have seen the light of the day because developers were able to create grand land pools.

For urban or rural spaces to develop, large-scale infrastructure projects are a must. These require large tracts of land. But you generally do not find one huge block of land at one place. Large tracts of land are in thousands of small parcels and are owned by thousands of individuals. So, acquiring these parcels for development often comes as a tough task for governments across the world. By implementing effective land-pooling policies, authorities are able to speed up acquisitions of land for infrastructure development. In India, authorities in Delhi and Haryana have already come up with such policies to make land acquisition easier for themselves and financially viable for small land owners.