There is a trend in land prices decreasing in the country with the grant of Urumaya deeds to 2.4 million families who had no right to even an inch of land, say market analysts.President Ranil Wickremesinghe has also said that it is the largest privatisation program in the country through the transfer of a large amount of Government-owned land to private ownership of 2.4 million families.
Market analysts said that the drop in demand for land will definitely lead to a decrease in the demand for land as a large portion of the population who were deprived of land will receive freehold ownership of land.
The land owned by the Railway Department, which has the largest extent of land in the country will be transferred to the people under a long-term lease basis for agriculture, industries and businesses.
With the introduction of the concept of Station Plaza in the previous Budget in this regard, proposals for the transfer of the land are being looked into these days and it is due to be completed by July 15.
The Government has also decided to hand over land owned by the Mahaweli and other ministries for specific projects under long-term lease basis.
The rent is determined under the appraised value of the Government Valuer and it is possible to get Government land on lease by submitting applications to the ministries that own the land for effective projects without any intermediary or political connection.
Based on this situation, even though advertisements are published for private land sale at present, people are reluctant to buy lands and they merely inquire about the price, market analysts added.
