significant parcels) approximate market value. No country in the world has moved toward implementation of land disposition policies without first preparing such inventories.

Land inventories accessible to the public and to market participants also are essential for accountability. Parts I and II of this report describe several different approaches to the preparation of public land inventories. They range from straightforward presentation of information about landholdings to the further requirement that the landholding agency provide a justification as to why continued holding of significant land parcels is in the interest of efficient service delivery.

# **Importance of a Well-Defined Process for Public Land Disposition**

India’s record of land disposition involves case-by-case consideration, following rules that are not defined beforehand and are subject at any point to higher-level intervention. The ad hoc nature of these procedures stands in the way of efficient decision-making. Parts I and II of this report describe several different procedures for identifying “surplus” public land or land that could contribute more effectively to public goals if sold or leased. The lesson from international experience is not that a single procedure is appropriate, but that there should be clarity and certainty about the procedure to be followed.

Ironically, India has a significant leg up in preparing land inventories and unlocking public land values, if institutions were allowed to move forward to implementation. The Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA), for example, was established precisely for this purpose. It has completed a basic inventory of Railways’ vast landholdings, and identified 305 mostly urban parcels suitable for development either through sale or joint venture. Despite Railways’ urgent need for investment financing, RLDA has been prohibited from moving forward by the Cabinetlevel freeze on all public land initiatives. Similarly, an inter-agency committee prepared in 2010 a new Land Policy for Major Port Trusts, which required the major ports to prepare inventories of their landholdings and develop plans for land use over the next decade. An important byproduct of this exercise is identification of land parcels which are not now used and are not planned to be used for port purposes. Many of these “surplus” land parcels are in major urban areas. They should be examined to determine how the greatest economic and fiscal value can be extracted from them, consistent with good urban planning. However, action to unlock land values for major ports is also frozen by Cabinet-level order. Similar de facto “freezes” on public land disposition or development have been imposed by state governments in several metropolitan areas.

# **Entrepreneurial Management of Public Lands**

State-owned companies, as well as government agencies, continue to hold valuable blocs of land in Indian cities. Some of these state-owned companies have shriveled in market size, or now own property that they cannot effectively utilize. Relocation of selected SOEs could contribute both to a more efficient urban development pattern and generate sizable resources for public investment.

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