NEW DELHI: The government is streamlining approval procedures for housing  projects by delegating powers to local bodies and adopting a consultative process at the national level, said Nandita Chatterjee, secretary, ministry of housing and urban  poverty alleviation.

"For making land available for housing projects, states were being pursued to create land banks and central ministries urged to release land in cities in exchange of other lands elsewhere," she said, speaking at the FICCI  Smart Cities  Summit 2015.

Chatterjee said efforts were on to rationalize taxation on affordable housing and states were being asked to prepare affordable housing policies with specific incentives including tax exemption and lower tax rates.

Talking about the recently launched Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana  - Housing for All (Urban), she said that at the slum decadal growth rate of 34%, the slum households are projected to go up to 18 million.

"Two million non-slum urban poor households are proposed to be covered under the Mission. Hence, total housing shortage envisaged to be addressed through the new mission is 20 million. The Mission will be implemented during 2015-2022 and will provide central assistance to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and other implementing agencies through States/UTs for In-situ Rehabilitation of existing slum dwellers using land as a resource through private participation; Credit Linked Subsidy; Affordable Housing in Partnership; and Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction/enhancement," she said.