They have also asked the government to put in place a simple procedure, so that they could get such certificates easily. [break]
“It is very unfortunate that the government brought up the issue of land ceiling when the central bank´s cap on realty loans and liquidity crunch is already squeezing our business,” said Ichchha Bahadur Wagle, vice president of Nepal Land and Housing Developers´ Association (NLHDA).
To do away with the problem, he said, NLHDA has suggested the government to clearly designate an authority from where developers can get an approval to hold land more than what has been set as a ceiling in the four-decade old Land Reforms Act (LRA).
The LRA bars individuals and companies from holding land more than 25 ropanis (3.14 acres) in the Kathmandu Valley, 80 ropanis (10.05 acres) in the hills and 11 bigahs (17.97 acres) in tarai districts. Even though real estate players can enjoy exemption from the rule on government´s permission, none of the developers have followed due process while acquiring larger stretches of land.
NLHDA has suggested the government to designate Department of Land Reforms and Management as the authority to issue exemption certification on land ceiling for up to 50 ropanis of land in the Valley.
Likewise, it has sought that Secretary of Ministry of Land Reforms be allowed to issue such exemptions for land stretches of up to 200 ropanis and Minister for Land Reforms for more than 200 ropanis of land.
The whole issue of land ceiling came to the surface after Department of Land Reforms and Management´s (DoLRM´s) investigation showed that some housing developers were holding as much as 125 ropanis of land without due permission of the government.
Since then it has intensified steps to monitor land ceiling and tightened transfers of land ownership to housing companies.
However, referring to the nature of their business and the lack of designated authority to pledge exemptions, developers argued that they had no idea of the rule being applicable for them as well.
“If the government says we are also required to take due permission, we are ready to comply with it,” said Wagle.
The overall process of issuing the ceiling exemption certificate should be simple and easy, the association has said. It has further said that the developers will not disclose the extent of their present landholding, as directed by the government, until the new arrangement is put in place.
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