|
|||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
Fund-Starved GMADA Awaits Auctions, Market Not Yet Conducive To Generate Revenue By ugesh sarkar, Section Punjab Real Estate
In a dire need of money to bear the heavy costs of land acquisition and infrastructure development, especially for the upcoming international airport, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has been forced to adopt a "wait-and-watch" policy in view of the meltdown.
Though GMADA has various commercial, residential and institutional sites to put under the hammer, it will wait for the wheat harvesting season before conducting its fifth auction since its inception in August 2006. GMADA had conducted its last and third auction in September, last year, but after that the real estate market experienced a plunge. After bearing over Rs 460 crore for acquiring 306 acres of land for setting up the international airport terminal building in Jheourheri village, the GMADA requires nearly Rs 1,500 crore for acquiring almost 1,000 acres more for providing road connectivity to the international airport, besides commercial exploitation in the proposed mixed land use zone. The GMADA has already got the requisite approval for this major land acquisition, the process of which is underway. Confirming the development, GMADA Chief Administrator (CA) Vivek Partap Singh told Newsline that it was felt that the real estate market picks up when the farmers become rich after selling their produce. "Since the paddy sales had ended long back, now we're looking forward for the next harvesting season when the farmers will again become rich to invest in property," said Singh. Click On "Full Story" For More...
Though the Haryana Government had, last month, paid its share of Rs 230.41 crore to the Punjab Government in the airport land acquisition cost (Punjab and Haryana are equal 24.5 per cent shareholders in the new international airport joint venture project, with Airport Authority of India having 51 per cent equity), the GMADA is yet to get the money from the state government.
Besides bearing the future land acquisition cost, GMADA is also to pay back Rs 225 crore to Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA), Rs 160 crore to Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) and Rs 37.5 crore to Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA). "Though it's an internal matter between various government departments and authorities, we will spend our own funds to bear the future expenses on land acquisition and infrastructure development," added the GMADA CA. He further stated that the infrastructure development projects related to the international airport were being taken up on priority to create the allied infrastructure well in time before the terminal building comes up. This year, GMADA had earned over Rs 11,821 crore from the sale of 80 commercial and 32 residential freehold sites and a mixed use site. While Rs 9,345.79 crore was generated from the last auction in September, the auction in May had yielded Rs 2,010.74 crore. A 9.6-acre mixed use site in Mohali's Sector 49, adjoining Chandigarh, was bought by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India at Rs 464.75 crore in February. Last year, GMADA's second auction had made it richer by Rs 766.97 crore from the sale of 66 sites, while the first auction, in November 2006, fetched Rs 439.57 from sale of 22 commercial sites. While most of the revenue generated from the auctions has already been spent on infrastructure development projects, the remaining revenue is being spent on the ongoing projects. "We are spending our cash in hand and after it ends, we will wait for our next auction, which will take a couple of months," said the CA. Besides several residential and commercial sites left unsold due to inappropriate bids in the last auctions, a prime mixed use site of 4.88 acres adjoining Fortis Hospital in Sector 62, around two dozen residential plots in Sector 71 and commercial and residential plots to be carved out from land being vacated from illegal possession of Lambian village in Sector 69 will go under the hammer during the next auction. Source: Indian Express Fund-starved GMADA awaits auctions
|
