PMO frees govt land for PSU,PPP projects

A communication issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday acknowledged that the ban was hurting the pace of development of infrastructure projects.

“This (ban) was leading to long delays in awarding concessions for infrastructure projects. All PPP (public private partnership) infrastructure projects roads,railways,ports,civil aviation and metros have some element of land alienation as the project is often built on government owned land,” the communication said.

The step which industry will welcome makes it obvious that the PM does not expect Parliament to clear the Land Acquisition Bill in the monsoon session. The Bill has been cleared by a House committee with replies sent in by the rural development ministry. But those are yet to be reconciled.

C V Madhukar,chief of PRS Legislative Research,the think tank that tracks legislative work,said the PMO communication appears intended to signal to the world that India is back in business.

With this relaxation,all cases of transfer of land from ministries to statutory authorities or public sector units will be allowed,subject to rules. All cases of transfer of land on lease or rent to projects cleared through the government’s PPP approval committee too will go through,as will the development of railway land by the Rail Land Development Authority.

The PMO expressed hope that the step would “speed up the award of PPP projects from this month onwards significantly”.

Former rural development secretary Rita Sinha,however,said the government rarely has long linear patches of land for possible use by road developers,or contiguous chunks that may facilitate the building of a large,integrated project. The need to pass the land acquisition Bill remains,Sinha said.