Public ownership and the allocation of land resour

Public ownership of land achieves simultaneously the two objectives of
1.Increased planning control, and
2.The return of the added value generated to the community
 
But is it likely to be more efficient than a system which acts chiefly through the market?  In other words, can it ensure that, at the correct point in time, land will go to its highest and best use when all costs and benefits, both private and communal, are taken into account.  If it facilitates planning to deal with externalities, it can be an improvement.  If it delays desirable development or distracts it away from its highest and best use, it will be detrimental.  In that case, the 100 percent return on investment which public ownership achieves may prove less over all than a small percentage of the larger income, which would result from a superior project.
 
Concerning the Community Land Act scheme, the first question that has to be asked, therefore, is in what ways would the acquisition and subsequent land development by the local authorities assist the planning process?  The White Paper on Land development criticized the existing position in the following terms: ‘The community does not at present have sufficient power always to plan positively, to decide where and when particular developments should take place.’ 
 
While the White Paper made no attempt to explain and enlarge on this statement, it seemed to intend that in the future, local authorities, and not the private developers working through the market, would initiate this development, by deciding the allocation of land resources to their highest and best use and also by deciding as to when the development should take place.  Would such local authority decision-making improve the situation?  With respect to similar developments in Real Estate Kochi is always following a different trend and we will have to wait and watch to see the results of the policies followed till now.