MUMBAI: Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel called for a separate single window mechanism for clearance of affordable housing projects as many of them are stuck at state government bodies.Patel said affordable housing needs greater focus and has a strong multiplier impact on economic growth . Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana , the government is targeting housing for all by 2022.“We have mentioned that we could have stronger growth performance if some of these things are taken forward, in particular removing infra bottlenecks, finding measures to reinvigorate private investment and provide thrust to affordable housing initiative of the government, which has a potential for strong multiplier effects,” said Patel at a press briefing after the announcement of the bi-monthly monetary policy. “A fair number of pieces of the jigsaw are already in place.”Affordable housing segment is booming after the government push. According to industry estimates, disbursals of loans below Rs 10 lakh for affordable housing have grown 43% in the last financial year. Overall housing loans grew 23% while home loans above Rs 25 lakh saw a marginal decline of 1% during the last financial year.“I think, we need a time -bound, single window clearance of this very important initiative, which has the potential for growth,” said Patel.Approval time usually ranges from six to 12 months. The process and time required for permissions is the same for all projects including affordable, middle-income or luxury.India Ratings said it expects demand for 25 million homes, that is, 4x of the entire current housing finance stock, over financial year 2016-17 to 2021-22 in the medium income group and lower income group categories.Affordable housing finance largely for loan size up to Rs 15 lakh will become a large segment for housing finance companies in the next five years, with the estimated share to increase to around 37% in FY22 said India Ratings and Research.“Town planning is invariably not very supportive of affordable housing.”