Land transfer made easy for infrastructure projects

New Delhi: The Prime Minister has lifted curbs on transfer of government-owned land for infrastructure projects.

Last year, a ban had been imposed on transfer of government-owned land to any entity, except from one government department to another.

This was leading to long delays in awarding concessions for infrastructure projects, particularly public-private partnership (PPP) projects.

Now, all cases of land transfer from Ministries to statutory authorities or public sector undertakings will be allowed, subject to normal government rules.

Land alienation
Also, land alienation will be allowed for parcels on lease, rent or licence to a concessionaire appraised through the PPP Approval Committee route and approved by the Finance Minister or by the Ministers concerned or by the Cabinet, depending on the value of the project.

Transfers will also be allowed for development of railway land by the Rail Land Development Authority.

This would be according to the provisions of the Railways Amendment Act, 2005 and in accordance with the prevalent policies and guidelines of the Railway Ministry and the Government.