BENGALURU: The State Housing Department is, at last, putting its house in order. Its housing project for the urban poor will take off soon as it has cleared most of the hurdles it faced in the last three years. Construction is likely to begin in January. Each flat will cost around Rs 7 lakh.
The project is worth around Rs 4,475 crore.
In the first phase, 46,000 flats, both one BHK and two BHK, will come up in Bengaluru, the cost for which is estimated to be between Rs 10.75 lakh and Rs 15 lakh, respectively. The state government will pool its share, thus making the flats available for Rs 7.10 lakh for those under the SC/ST category and Rs 7.9 lakh for General category. This is for those who fall under the low-income group.
‘One lakh houses for urban poor’ was the brainchild of former CM Siddaramaiah, proposed in 2016. And in September 2017, the state cabinet approved it. Siddaramaiah even announced it in the Budget then. Later the government changed and H D Kumaraswamy became CM and tender was called in 2018. When the project was initiated, M Krishnappa was the Housing Minister, followed by U T Khader and M T B Nagaraj. Now, V Somanna is the Housing Minister.
In 2018, the government called for tenders to construct these houses in a ground-plus-three-storey format, for which it needed over 1,500 acres of land. This posed a problem due to land shortage in the city. Government managed to get 1,000 acres.
However, it faced problems like encroachments and legal hurdles. Then the model code of conduct came in the way, that too thrice — 2018 Assembly polls, 2019 Loks Sabha polls and the recent bypolls.
Ram Prasad Manohar,
Managing Director, Rajiv Gandhi Housing Corporation Limited, told TNIE that around 46,000 flats would come up in nine packages in the first phase. “We have finalised six packages where six bidders will construct around 28,900 flats. The committee constituted under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to clear it under a single-window has given nod for the bidders and work order has been given to them. “If everything goes well, work will begin in the second week of January. The work is expected to be completed in 18 months,’’ he said.
As on today, over 48,000 people have applied. “Once they get selected, they have to pay Rs 50,000 or Rs 1 lakh. Since they fall under the low-income category, the government will get their loan approved from the banks. To avoid misuse of the flats, we have a rider that they can’t be sold for a minimum 15 years,’’ Ram Prasad said.