Govt urged to allow unquestioned investment in real estate sector

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FE Report
The country's homebuilders Wednesday urged the government to allow in the next budget afresh the investments of individuals in the real-estate sector without asking the sources of income as their sales dropped by 20 per cent over the recent months.
"They (realtors) have made proposals including allowing individuals to purchase flats or apartments without being asked to disclose their sources of income," Finance Minister AMA Muhith told newsmen after holding a meeting with the leaders of the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB), led by its President Tanvirul Huq Probal at the Secretariat.
Responding to a question, the minister said the government will decide on offering a scope to legalise 'undisclosed' income after taking opinions of all the stakeholders.
He went on: "As I said earlier, the proposal on legalising undisclosed money would have to be considered, given the present perspective, even though I am not in favour of such a provision."
Replying to another query, the Finance Minister said the government is expected to finalise its stimulus package for meltdown-hit export sectors in next eight or ten days.
When his attention was drawn to the Asian Development Bank's latest downward forecast of the country's GDP (gross domestic product), Mr. Muhith said, "It is their (ADB) assessment."
"Still we are calculating a GDP growth of 6.0 per cent. The GDP growth was last reviewed in March and it will be evaluated further this month," said the Finance Minister.
He also observed that there would not be any major downturn in the country's GDP growth despite some adversities emanating from the ongoing global financial recession.
He also reiterated the government's willingness to relax the existing rules and regulations regarding repayment of bank loans against the backdrop of the global meltdown, as was sought by the REHAB leaders.
Apart from their demand for allowing investment in the real-estate sector without asking sources of income, the REHAB also placed some other proposals including reduction of bank interest rate and lowering the government's existing apartment registration fees, Mr Tanvirul Huq told the newsmen after the meeting.
Terming the registration fee in Bangladesh, which is 16 per cent, one of the highest in the countries of this region, the REHAB president said the rate is only 5.0 per cent in India.
He also mentioned that the local homebuilders were facing a scarcity of some important building materials, especially stones.
Responding to a query, the REHAB leader said, "We have sought the facility of investing undisclosed money in the real-estate sector in the greater interest of the industry, which employs around 2.0 million labourers."
When asked, Mr. Tanvirul Huq said, "The overall sales of flats and apartments under the REHAB fell by 20 per cent in the recent months."
Replying to another query on whether the REHAB would cut the apartment prices, he said it will happen, provided the land prices decline.
Lowering of both registration costs and bank interest can help reduce the overall apartment purchasing costs.