The Hindu      04.01.2011

BDA plans to focus more on apartment complexes

New approach: The BDA plans to adopt a public-private-partnership model for the apartment complexes. — file photo

The city is poised to grow skyward with the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) planning a major policy shift to build more multi-storeyed apartment complexes.

The traditional slant in favour of sites is evident from the fact that the BDA has built only 3,744 flats while allotting nearly 1.4 lakh sites since its inception in 1976.

Terming the traditional approach as “untenable” in a market where prices are rocketing skyward, BDA Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena said: “We want to have fewer sites and substantially increase the number of flats in future layouts to benefit middle and lower income groups.”

He explained that such a move would also contain the unbridled horizontal growth of the city.

Speaking to The Hindu on Monday, Mr. Meena said the shift would be visible in the proposed Kempe Gowda Layout near Magadi Road. He said the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act would be amended to facilitate this shift. Once it becomes law, BDA will mandatorily set aside a chunk of land for construction of multi-storeyed apartment complexes. Sources in the BDA said that the Chief Minister had been briefed about it.

Area of concern

An area of concern is the public-private-partnership model that the BDA plans to adopt. Simply put, the BDA will provide the land and the private partner will construct the building. The builder will be given a portion of the complex which he can sell at any price. The remaining flats will be allotted at “nominal” prices fixed by the BDA.

There is a fear that the private player will make exorbitant gains for negligible investment, while also pushing up market prices for the remaining flats. Given the inflationary trends, the original allottees too might be tempted to sell the apartment. In the process, the core aim of affordable housing may become the biggest casualty.

Responding to this, Mr. Meena said that as the BDA would sell a sizeable portion of the flats, it would be able to keep a tab on the rates.

Deccan Chronicle      03.01.2011

GHMC won’t raze illegal buildings

an. 2: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation may well decide not to bulldoze unauthorised buildings that have not been ‘regularised’ under the Building Penalisation Sch-eme that ended on December 31, 2010.

Instead, the civic body wants to fill its empty coffers by levying heavy penalties on the buildings that are illegal or have flouted building rules. It thus hopes to raise more than Rs 50 crore on over 30,000 applications that are pending under the BPS.

Another 40,000 applications were deemed ineligible for the BPS by GHMC officials as the buildings had come up within the Full Tank levels of water bodies, or on Wakf, endowment, government, ceiling, assigned or notary lands.

Those who have already availed of the BPS and got their properties regularised, have objected to the GHMC’s reluctance to demolish the properties. They say that if the properties are not demolished, the 1.32 lakh applicants who paid in all Rs 677 crore towards penalisation char-ges and got their buildings regularised within the stipulated time, will feel cheated. Besides, if the properties are not demolished, it will send a wrong message and construction of unauthorised buildings will increase.