The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Housing board for tie-up with private land owners

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 01, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Housing board for tie-up with private land owners

By V. Geetanath

HYDERABAD, FEB.28. After having obtained the Government's nod for construction of mega townships on a private-public partnership basis around the capital and in select parts of the State, the Andhra Pradesh Housing Board (APHB), has come out with a new idea.

It has invited private landowners having suitable lands in Kakinada and Rajahmundry to partner with the Board to develop housing townships.

Interested parties

It has issued a notification recently asking interested parties having a minimum of 25 acres of land, that is free from any encumbrances, encroachments or litigations of any nature to contact the board.

The two towns were specifically identified because the Board felt that these could be potential growth zones especially taking into consideration that they were upgraded to municipal corporations, according to a senior official.

The official said the APHB would take over the land from the selected landowner at a mutually agreed price for development. It would take up construction and marketing of the housing units.

Share in profits

As for the landowner, part of the land cost could be paid upfront to them and the balance would be treated as an investment from the landowner for the project.

The landowner would be getting share in the profits in proportion to the investment made in the form of the land. This would be in addition to the land cost that would be paid in instalments, he said. If more than one landowner showed interest in the scheme, the Board would take the advice of a third party consultant and its assessment would be final.

The APHB officials said that if the current idea clicked the same scheme could be taken to other parts of the State too as it would help it to cut several layers and go straight for house construction.

"Going by our past record, we have to think out of the box if we are to reach the target of constructing 50,000 units put by the Chief Minister," said the official.

The Board has already been sounded to take up construction of the first 1,000 units in Ranga Reddy district under the Rajiv Gruhakalpa Scheme. This would be in addition to the 7,000 modern housing units it is planning to build around the capital and in the districts for which seven private parties were short-listed.

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