As there are very few takers for Bangalore Development Authority’s (BDA) initiative to allot 4,388 low-cost single-bedroom flats despite giving subsidies for economically weaker sections, the BDA is now planning to convert some of them into double or three-bedroom flats.
BDA Commissioner T Sham Bhatt said, “Though we had proposed to allot over 4,300 flats this time, we have received a little over 1,200 applications. Therefore, we are planning to convert around 2,000 single-bedroom apartments into two-bedroom houses as there is considerable demand for them”.
However, Sham Bhatt did not attribute any reason for the lack of demand for the single-bedroom houses.
The BDA had proposed to construct 4,388 single-bedroom houses, 1,170 double-bedroom houses and 632 three-bedroom houses at Halagevaderahalli, Valagerahalli, Malgala, Gunjur, Thippsandra, Dodda Banahalli, Haluru and Kothanur to provide low-cost housing.
In accordance with the BDA bylaws, 50 per cent of the flats are reserved for Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes, Backward Classes and other categories. Therefore, only 50 per cent of
these flats will be allotted for general categories. Moreover, the BDA has provided subsidies of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh for the economically weaker sections.
The single-bedroom houses are priced between Rs 9.5 lakh and Rs11.2 lakh. A subsidy of Rs 3 lakh is being given for houses priced at Rs11.2 lakh and Rs 2 lakh for those priced lower.
The two-bedroom houses are priced between Rs 14.5 and Rs 17.6 lakh and the three-bedroom houses are priced between Rs 23 and Rs 27 lakh. The price variation is due to the location of these flats.
Real estate and housing analyst Prashanth Sambargi said, “After the Arkavathy Layout fiasco, many people have lost faith in the BDA and the few housing projects undertaken by the authority have some or the other defects. Moreover, BDA has not showcased a model flat for people to know what they would be getting for the money they pay.”