VIJAYAWADA: Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Minister Botcha Satyanarayana has said that new contractors will be identified for the urban and rural housing projects through reverse tendering.
Alleging that TDP used housing for poor to pocket thousands of crores of rupees, the minister asserted that those involved in the ‘scam’ would be probed and exposed, besides collecting recovery charges from them.
Refuting the claims of the TDP leaders that lakhs of houses were built in the last five years, Botcha observed only seven lakh were proposed of which tenders were invited for 3.19 lakh houses.
“Of them, only 98,000 houses have been completed so far. The TDP government used housing projects as means of money-making and pocketed thousands of crores. As Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said, we will go for reverse tendering. Whichever agency comes forward, they will be brought on board. There is no political vendetta in this, but it is just an attempt to save public money,” he said, in a press meet here on Friday.
Asked when the reverse tendering will be done, he said, “We are in the process of examining the issue. We will discuss with our technical experts and initiate reverse tendering soon.”The 3.19 lakh houses have been divided into 34 packages, which were awarded to four contracting agencies, including L and T, Shapoorji and Pallonji, and NCC Ltd.
Talking about excess pricing of the housing, the minister said, “When housing for the poor projects were built at Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,300 per sq ft, the TDP government spent Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,300 per sq ft. The market price is Rs 1,100 to Rs 1,300 per sq ft. The price over and above the actual price has gone into kickbacks. They looted public money.”
He also found fault with the previous government for making the beneficiary pay. “For 300 sq ft, 365 sq ft and 430 sq ft, the TDP government fixed prices at Rs 6.55 lakh, Rs 7.55 lakh and Rs 8.5 lakh per unit. While Rs 3 lakh subsidy would be given by both the Centre and the State, the remaining cost had to be borne by the beneficiary. But, we will give the houses without charging a penny from beneficiaries,” he clarified.
