BHUBANESWAR: Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has had a bitter experience with two public private partnership (PPP) real estate projects in the city. While inordinate delay mars a market building in Unit IV, the civic agency is struggling with deviation from the original plan with another multi-storied mall in Unit II.
An eight-storied market in Unit IV with two lakh square feet built-up area has been under construction for the past 13 years. Work for the Panchdeep market complex, a joint venture of BMC with a private developer, started in 1998. However, the work is still on. "Construction was stopped for years. After I raised the matter in BMC in 2010, it resumed. The officers are saying it would be ready by October this year," said Sasmita Nanda, corporator of the area.
Sources said the BMC secured the government's permission to build the market complex in the 883 decimal land in July 1998. It signed an agreement with the private developer to construct the complex in February 1999. As per the deal, the builder would get 65% of the shops and BMC 35%. The BMC had given the developer time till 2007 to complete the project.
Some affected vendors moved the Orissa high court in 2002 against the construction. After the matter ended on a "compromise", the work resumed in 2011. "The work is apparently almost complete. We will do a field survey to assess the readiness soon," said BMC deputy commissioner Krushna Prasad Pati. "Only finishing work is left. It would be complete soon," a representative of the developer present in the construction site said.
President of Unit IV Market Byabasayi Mahasangha Biranchi, Narayan Mishra, said while the builder has mostly sold its share, vendors in the market hope the BMC will allot shops to them with liberal paying options.
Another PPP project in Unit II is facing problems of deviation. The BMC had recently issued a showcause notice to the developer for the violations in construction plan of the shopping mall. "The builder has replied to the notice. We will take action after going through it," said the BMC deputy commissioner. The engineering wing of the civic agency had pointed out construction of more shops than was approved in the layout.
The mall built on a 70,000 sq ft built-up area and 220 shops was supposed to have a rooftop parking for 70 cars. Automobile lift was supposed to take cars from the right side entrance of the mall to the terrace. A representative of the developer, however, said it has not violated any rules. "We have not violated any terms and conditions," he said.
The BMC's third PPP project at Saheed Nagar, however, is nearing completion without much apparent hitch and within the stipulated deadline. Ashok Lakhotia, managing director the developer, said, "The commercial complex is almost complete and will be ready for possession within the next two to three months." The residential part is already complete.
The five-storey shopping, office, residential and cineplex structure is coming up on a 6 lakh square feet area. The commercial area has three blocks. While the BMC will rent out the first block to corporate offices, the second block will house semi-corporate and mercantile segments. The cineplex, shopping mall and retail outlets would be in the third block. In the housing and commercial property, BMC has a 30% share.
Source:
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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