The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday opened the union territory to the country's real estate investors by signing 39 MoUs worth nearly Rs 19,000 crore for the development of housing, hotel and commercial projects.

The summit was organised by the J&K government, Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and realtors' body NAREDCO.

During a press conference at the summit, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said the government has already implemented the realty law RERA and adopted Model Tenancy Act in the Union Territory (UT).

''We have signed 39 MoUs today. We have received investments proposals of Rs 18,300 crore,'' he said.

As many as 20 MoUs (Memoranda of Understanding) were signed at the summit for development of housing projects, while seven were inked for commercial, four hospitality, three infratech, three film and entertainment and two finance projects.

He assured realtors that the government will reduce stamp duty on registration of properties in line with other states and set up a single-window system for faster approval of projects.

In a statement, industry body Naredco said that MOUs worth Rs 18,900 crore have been signed by many developers, including Hiranandani group, Signature Global, NBCC and Raheja Developers.

Other real estate companies that signed MoUs include Samyak Group, Raunak Group, Goel Ganga, GHP Group and Shree Naman Group signed initial pacts for housing projects. Chalet Hotels signed a MoU for a hospitality project.

Separately, the Industries and Commerce Department signed an MoU with Haldiram group for establishment of unit in J&K.

Sinha said these MoUs will help generate employment opportunities in J&K, and also boost economy of the UT.

He also announced that a similar real estate summit will be held in Srinagar on May 21-22 next year.

Sinha said the days are not far when the UT will be at par with other states. ''We will break all such walls'' that will try to create hurdles in development for the interest of the common people of the J&K, he asserted.

The Lieutenant Governor also said the real estate developers have been asked to partner with local builders of the UT so that local people also get share of the development process.

Sinha said the government has identified 6,000 acres of land for the development of projects and that it has also made rules for change of land usage of agriculture land.

Further, Sinha highlighted that Rs 44,000 crore worth investment proposals under a new industrial scheme have been announced by his government and hoped that the number will reach Rs 60,000 crore soon.

The government will also offer its own land under the new industrial policy for development of projects. People who own the land should have the freedom to decide how they want to use their land parcels, he added.

Image credit: Greater Kashmir