A. Srivathsan in Conversation with Vidyadhar Phatak: Land Value Capture and Value Capital Finance

Vidyadhar Phatak, is one of the leading urban thinkers in the country with rich practice and teaching experience. He is the former Chief Planner of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and also the former Dean of Faculty Planning, CEPT University. Mr Phatak was the director of National Housing Bank from 2006 to 2012 and also worked on several urban planning reforms as a consultant with the World Bank. Over the last 40 years, he has worked on land markets, land-based Fiscal Tools, urban Planning reforms and housing. A. Srivathsan is an architect and urban designer, and currently Director, Center for Research on Architecture and Urbanism, CEPT University Ahmedabad. He was previously the Academic Director of the University, and before that taught for a decade and worked as a senior journalist with The Hindu, the national newspaper. His research and writings include the themes of urban history, planning policies and contemporary architectural practices. Srivathsan’s recent work includes work on evidence based affordable housing policies for Chennai, a study conducted for Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission. In this final episode of land related subjects, Vidyadhar Phatak in conversation with A. Srivathsan, explains the idea of Land value Capture (LVC) and Value Capture Financing (VCF) pointing out the fine-drawn differences between the two concepts. He explains the importance of these financing tools in generating hitherto untapped land value gains for financing infrastructure projects particularly the metros. Further, he explains two broad approaches to LVC viz. Land developmental and fiscal tools. He briefly elaborates the fiscal measures. In the end, he highlights the challenges in adopting LVC practices in a manner that integrates the urban planning, legal and public finance dimensions of the land market.