Public housing scheme yet to take concrete shape

Kathmandu, June 15

Due to insufficient budget and lack of any initiative regarding its implementation by the concerned authorities, the government’s plan to launch the Janata Awas Yojana — public housing scheme — has still not taken any concrete shape.

During the inauguration of the five-day Seventh Property Expo 2018 Nepal organised by Nepal Housing and Land Developers Association (NHLDA) here today, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said that the housing scheme had been a total failure and the government would have to rethink on the plan.

The government had introduced the Janata Awas Yojana in 2008 with plans to construct 47,197 individual houses for needy people.

“The then government launched the programme without doing enough homework on it and it didn’t have any long-term vision about well managed cities and urban development,” said PM Oli. “This government will soon introduce a plan to build many smart cities across the nation and also formulate a land management plan for sustainable development.”

The prime minister further said that the previous government had selected only urban cities that were already established for development and was promoting them. “The new land management plan will introduce a guideline to promote fertile land for agriculture and the remaining areas for development of smart cities and other projects according to the land structure and the demography,” he stated.

Speaking on the occasion, NHLDA President Iccha Raj Tamang, said the property expo is a one-stop solution for the entire eco-system of the housing and land development sector of the country. “The main objective of the exhibition is to enhance and systematically manage the country’s real estate market and its future,” he added.

The event will cover the entire housing sector such as commercial and business property, architecture, construction, building, engineering and environment, among others.

“We have since long tried to collaborate with the government but the government has always suppressed the entire property sector by terming it as an ‘unproductive sector’, which is not fair,” lamented Tamang.

He further added that the real estate sector has always focused on and followed the government laws, rules and regulations but the banking system has been hesitant to extend loans to the sector. “I would like to suggest the government to change its perception of real estate being an unproductive sector.”

NHLDA said that the event has participation of around 150 exhibitors covering an exhibition area of 6,000 square metres of Bhrikuti Mandap — both indoor and outdoor.

As per NHLDA, there is a demand for nearly 25,000 units of new houses every year in the country. At present, there are 82 housing complexes in the country and 4,900 houses have been built and handed over to the owners. Similarly, there are 117 apartment buildings in the nation and 14,500 units have been sold till date. The NHLDA claims that they contribute about Rs 24 billion revenue to the government annually.

NHLDA is the apex industry body representing housing and land developers in Nepal.