8 Recent Developments In The Gujarat Market

Gujarat is among India's fastest-growing states. Because of that, the value of land in this western state has constantly been rising. We list here some of the new development that would further impact real estate of Gujarat.

The regularisation drive

The Gujarat Land Revenue Amendment Bill, 2017, paved way for the regularisation of over seven lakh properties built on agricultural land. The leniency was shown keeping in mind the fact that these areas have come up as transition areas owing to rapid development which led to some unplanned growth. The amendment helped regularise these properties without converting their land use. To get clarity over all property records and titles, these would be regularised after payment of a fees.

Keeping the heritage

Heritage property owners wish to redevelop their ancestral properties in Surat, some of which date back to the 16^th century. However, the civic body is not ready for that as yet. According to reports, it had been proposed that a heritage cell will be set for this purpose. The plan is still in the making, it seems.

More and more affordable homes

After Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, Gujarat has submitted the highest number of proposals under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. The state plans to build 1.38 lakh home under the scheme. A report by the State Level Banker's Committee in Gujarat came out with the finding that under the Credit-Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS), there have been 4,352 disbursements already. The list of statutory towns eligible for the CLSS include Kachchh, Banaskantha, Patan, Mahesana, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Junagarh, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Anand, Kheda, Panchmahal, Dahod, Vadodara, Bharuch, The Dangs, Navsari, Valsad, Surat and Tapi.

Act in motion

The state Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) has been set up, with Manjula A Subramaniam as its chairman. By July 31, only 400 projects and 90 real estate agents had registered themselves with the authority, reports claim. After news spread that registration deadlines could not be extended, industry insiders suggested that the delay could also be mapped to the delay in the website to become operational (it became live on July 10). Ashish Patel, president, Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers (GIHED), the Ahmedabad chapter of Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI), reportedly said: “The deadline should be extended if the real estate industry is to be saved from an adverse impact."

Rains and the after effect

The monsoon rains have done much harm to national highways, rural and urban roads in the state. Estimates show that the damage could be up to the tune of Rs 700 crore so far while the counting is still on. In Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara and within the jurisdiction of the Junagadh Municipal Corporation alone, the damage comes up to Rs 350 crore. A great deal of money will have to be spent to repair state roads which could prove to be an uphill task.

The pollution monster

An early pollution warning system by the name Air Information and Response Plan is all set to become a reality in Ahmedabad. In India, Ahmedabad is the fourth city to incorporate this plan. The system would send across text messages to people, alerting them about the rising pollution levels.

Faster green approvals

It used to take at least six months to receive environment clearances for a project. This is going to change now. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani recently announced that the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority, the Surat Urban Development Authority and the Gandhinagar Urban Development Authority are now empowered to give clearances to projects built on 1.50 square metre or less areas.

Getting smarter

Rajkot, Dahod and Gandhinagar have made it to the Smart Cities list, besides Gandhinagar, Vadodara and Surat. All these cities would get Rs 1,000 crore in phases to carry on their developmental work.