Vijayawada: The CMO’s silence on the the unilateral decision taken by the Ministry of municipal administration and urban development, to allot the works of housing construction, to a construction major at the rate of Rs 1,950 per sq feet, became a point of discussion in the MA&UD department.
In fact, the ministry's repeated involvement, for the last two years, has hampered the construction activity and no single house was built.
The Andhra Pradesh Town planning and Infrastructure Development Corporation (APTIDCO) had submitted a proposal two months ago, by quoting Rs 1,450 per sq feet, to build 5,000 houses in 10 places, with 500 houses in each place under the Capital area, as per the request of CRDA.
However, the ministry didn't approve the same and modified the proposal, by stating Rs 1,950 per sq feet, and is trying to handing it over to a construction major, which is in contrast to the assurance given by the Chief Minister, who said that local builders would be given a chance.
In fact, as per the MA&UD G.O., 992 houses will be built in 300 sq.ft. area each, for which Rs 1,913 is the price for sq.ft, which includes internal infra and taxes, and unit cost will be around Rs 5.74 lakh per house.
In the second category, 1,536 will be built in 365 sq.ft. area, for which Rs 1,809 is the price for sq.ft. and unit cost will be around Rs 6.6 lakh per house. In the 3rd category, 2,496 houses will be built in 430 sq.ft area, for which Rs 1,739 is the price for sq.ft and Rs 7.48 lakh will be the cost of the house, which is in contrast to the government assured prices earlier.
The beneficiary has to bear the burden ranging from Rs 4 to Rs 6 lakh, by the time of clearing his loan, about which the G.O. did not mention anything.
The Ministry of MA&UD’s assurance of constructing 1,20,826 houses in 37 municipalities under the affordable housing scheme for the poor people in the state within 15 months, has now created doubt among the beneficiaries, as the prices quoted by the MA&UD are beyond the reach of the beneficiaries. The ministry has not given any clarity so far as to why the ‘single tender’ was floated while the local builders have come forward to build the houses less than the rates quoted by the APTIDCO.
