BENGALURU : The contractors of the seven Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) commercial complexes, work for which has been put on hold for the last 21 months, are contemplating legal action. The authority’s plans to shore up its rental revenues through these complexes in prime locations have hit a major roadblock.
Representatives of the two firms which have bagged the contract met BDA Chairman and Yeshwanthpur MLA S R Vishwanath last week, and asked for the nod to resume construction, as they have been incurring huge losses. “A firm (Mfar) has issued an arbitration notice against the BDA too. We will be seeking legal opinion on how to go about the issue. They can be allowed to proceed with the work only if they agree to certain modifications in the contract,” the chairman told The New Indian Express.
The BDA has 566 shops in seven commercial complexes — HSR Layout, Austin Town, Koramangala, Vijayanagar, Sadashivnagar, RT Nagar and Indiranagar. Most of them are in bad shape with minimum rentals fixed. “The move to revamp them completely on a public private partnership mode was taken up so that the authority’s annual rental income could go up from the present Rs 7 crore to Rs 38.98 crore,” said a reliable source.
The Indiranagar complex (estimated to cost Rs 650 crore) was awarded to Maverick Holdings and Private Limited, while the other six complexes (estimated to cost Rs 300 crore) were awarded to MFar Developers. The original deadline was March 2021.
Explaining the stalemate, Vishwanath said that the BDA wants a revision in the rent to be paid by the firms. “As per the original contract, BDA was to get 30% rental from shops, while 70% would go to the private party. We want 45% rent to be handed over to BDA now.” He also added that the contract period also needs to be reduced from 60 to 30 years.