Telangana: Joint venture housing projects face deadline

Hyderabad: Joint venture housing projects to construct flats and villas in the city, which failed to either take off altogether or remained incomplete even after a decade will be set a final deadline to clear government revenue-share arrears in these projects. The Cabinet subcommittee on JV projects, which met in the Secretariat on Friday, decided to set a final deadline to builders to comply with JV agreement norms or face action.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will fix the deadline, though the subcommittee is in favour of giving builders three months time. As many as 19 JV projects were taken up by previous governments between 2002 and 2014 with prominent builders. However, these projects remain incomplete. Even those projects that were completed to some extent and sold, buyers could not get the properties registered since the government stopped the process as builders owed hundreds of crores to the government towards its share of the JV agreement.

Those who purchased flats or villas nearly a decade ago have been waiting to get them registered. As per JV agreement, builders were supposed to build flats for lower income groups as part of their housing project, which did not happen. Housing minister A. Indrakaran Reddy said, “Due to lopsided policies adopted by previous TD and Congress governments, the projects failed to make headway. After the TRS government took over, the CM appointed a cabinet subcommittee to resolve the issue without causing problems for buyers. The committee has met seven times to find a solution amicable to all.”

Mr Reddy said the builders are mandated to construct houses for LIG as per the agreement and no relaxation will be given in this regard. “All steps are being taken to ensure that the government does not suffer any losses on account of these projects,” he said. The subcommittee condemned the allegations by TS TD working president A. Revanth Reddy that it was accepting kickbacks from builders to favour them in JV projects. “We have not even submitted the final report to the government over how to go ahead on JV projects. How can Revanth say the builders bribed us to settle the issue in their favour?” Mr Reddy said.