World Bank to India: Sell off excess public land in cities

MUMBAI: The World Bank has suggested sale of excess public land in Indian cities to fund infrastructure projects. Collaborating with the India Development Foundation and the Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility , the World Bank has formed a steering committee headed by Vijay Kelkar, chairman of the 13th finance commission, to formulate a proposal on monetizing excess public land.

Earlier this month, the bank’s India director Roberto Zagha Patricia Annez met stakeholders, town planners and urban experts in Mumbai and sought their advice on safeguarding affected communities and transparency in transactions.

The bank’s policy is that land has always served as an instrument of urban infrastructure finance. It cited the example of Istanbul, where an abandoned municipal brewery and bus stand were sold for nearly $2 billion (around Rs 9,000 crore), double the investment budget of that city. However, a bureaucrat dismissed it as a “bad proposition” and said it is “like selling the family silver”.