BDA will build flats to bust real estate hype

BDA will build flats to bust real estate hype
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: A paradigm shift in urban development is under way as the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is planning to focus on vertical development.

The move would also arrest skyrocketing real estate prices in the city. Taking a cue from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s observation on escalating cost of living in Bangalore, the civic agency is taking steps to allot flats instead of sites to applicants.

BDA commissioner M K Shankarlinge Gowda told this website’s newspaper that the agency would no more create small sites like 20 X 30 or 30 X 40 and mark substantial space for apartment complexes. ‘‘The flats would be allotted by BDA at an affordable cost,’’ he said.

The practice is already being adopted in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and it seems to be the right approach to arrest huge inflation of real estate prices.

Apparently, cost of living in Bangalore is said to be one of the highest in the country. While Delhi Development Authority (DDA) builds flats itself and allots them to applicants, BDA is exploring private participation in the scheme.

‘‘BDA would implement the initiative under public-private participation and ask builders to take up construction of apartments with 1-2 bedroom flats in a floor area upto 1,000 sq feet.

The builder would also be given commercial space as an incentive,’’ Shankarlinge Gowda said. ‘‘Joint ventures seem to work well and it would be a win-win situation both for the civic agency and the developer,’’ he added.