KATHMANDU, Feb 21: The government has decided to allow private land developers and housing companies to hold as much as 300 ropanis (37.71 acres) of land in Kathmandu Valley for reselling purpose, far above the current limit of 25 ropanis (3.14 acres).

Public limited land development and housing companies, on the other hand, can enjoy facility double this limit, that is 600 ropanis (75.42 acre) in the Valley.

Such a huge rise in the ceiling became possible after Ministry of Land Reforms and Management endorsed a new policy on land ceiling last week. The policy has broadly defined realty dealers into three categories -- land poolers, land and housing developers and land leasers -- and clearly specified land stretch each of them can hold.

For the facility, the dealers and developers registered with the company registrar’s office and Inland Revenue Office would need to formally lodge applications at the ministry specifying the site and purpose of seeking the facility.

“Department of Land Reforms and Management will process the applications and forward them to the ministry for appropriate decision,” states the policy. As for the facility beyond the limit mentioned in the policy, the policy says the ministry will have to forward the applications to the cabinet for approval.

This has ended long-running differences between the Department of Land Reforms and Management and the land and housing developers.

“Most importantly, it has for the first time explicitly defined provisions of Land reforms Act and Industrial Enterprise Act. This is what we had demanded for long,” said Ichchha Bahadur Wagle, vice president of Nepal Land and Housing Developers Association.

The differences over land ceiling had surfaced after the ministry’s probe showed some of the housing developers were holding as much as 125 ropanis (15.71 acre) of land in the Valley without due permission of the government.

Going by the four decades old Land Reforms Act, individuals and companies are not allowed to hold more than 25 ropanis (3.14 acre) of land in the Kathmandu Valley, 70 ropanis (8.79 acre) in the hills and 10 bighas (16.34 acre) in Tarai districts.

Even though Industrial Enterprise Act allows real estate players to enjoy exemption to this rule on government’s permission, the ministry’s probe had found that none of the developers had followed due process while acquiring larger stretches of land.

However, developers referring to the nature of their business had been urging the government to lift the ceiling.

“The new policy has pledged such a high exemption limit, we consider it as good as lifting of ceiling on housing companies,” said Wagle.
-MILAN MANI SHARMA
courtesy:myrepublica.com