Addressing mediapersons today, Minister of State for Urban Affairs Bandaru Dattatreya said that the need to review the guidelines -- announced by the government in June last year -- was necessitated following the negative response from the building industry to the existing proposals.

Dattatreya said the committee, to be headed Additional Secretary P.C. Sen, would submit a detailed report on the matter in the next fortnight. As per the existing proposals (to allow the private sector in the housing sector), a builder must have a minimum of 30 acre of contiguous land and must set aside 10 per cent of the housing units for economically weaker sections.

The minister, while admitting that not a single proposal had come to the ministry under the existing guidelines, said that the committee would examine the possibility of reducing the minimum area of contiguous land as well as the percentage of houses to be kept for weaker sections to enable more builders to step into the housing sector.

The guidelines were announced last year by urban affairs minister Ram Jethmalani, following the removal of the Delhi Development Authority's sole monopoly to construct houses in the capital.

It is now hoped that the modification of the guidelines with more incentives will attract the investment of the private sector. Also, the move to woo the private sector seriously comes following the recent repeal of the Urban Land Ceiling Regulation Act (ULCRA) which is expected to release several hundred hectares of land in the Capital for housing purposes.

Dattatreya also said that the ministry had submitted a detailed note to the Finance Ministry, asking for more fiscal incentives for the housing industry in the coming budget. The ministry has demanded fiscal concessions for individuals constructing houses, incentives to encourage the entry of foreign exchange earnings in the housing sector, excise and customs duty concessions on building and materials. It has also asked that the concessions under the Income Tax Act be expanded to cover money deposits in the housing sector.

The minister further said it has been decided to computerise all the records at the ministry's Land and Development Office (L&DO) to curb corruption and other malpractices rampant in the department. The L&DO controls over 50,000 properties in the Capital and it had been noticed that lack of proper documentation in the department had led to anarchy and corruption, he added.