Legislation to collect cost for house construction

Thiruvananthapuram, May 11: The Kerala Government is planning to bring in a new legislation permitting it to collect one per cent of the total cost for new houses being constructed in the State to the State Treasury, State Forest and Housing Minister Binoy Viswam said today.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said the amount would be collected only from those who build big houses, and the terms were was under discussion.

Mr Viswam said the amount collected would be utilised for constructing houses for the poor and the homeless people in the state.

The Minister said the Government would take steps to complete the renovation work for the M N Laksham Veedu Housing projects in three years and the pilot project in this regard would begin at Kollam on June 3.

Since the Government alone could not afford the total expenditure in this regard, it would mobilise money through the sale of lottery tickets and donations from voluntary organisations and individuals, including NIRs, he added.

UNI