The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has entered into a fresh agreement with Unitech Limited, India's second largest real estate player for commercial development of 2.675 acres in one of the prime locations of the city on the public private partnership (PPP) mode.
The authority entered into an agreement with the real estate firm earlier this month for development of one-fourth of area of the plot of 10.74 acres. This was informed by the state minister for housing and urban development Badri Narayan Patra in the state assembly.
The fresh agreement with Unitech has put to rest all speculation on Unitech's project which has been shrouded in uncertainty for over two years. Earlier, the efforts of BDA to find a higher bidder than Unitech for developing the 10.74 acre plot in one of the prime locations of the city had come a cropper.
In November 2009, BDA had floated two fresh tenders- one for the entire plot and the other for developing one fourth of this plot (2.675 acres) in the Chandrasekharpur area of the city.
While the reserve price for the 11-acre plot was fixed at Rs 211 crore, the price which Unitech had offered; the reserve price for the smaller plot was Rs 52.75 crore, about Rs 75 lakh more than what Unitech had already paid to BDA.
But both these tenders drew a blank which can be attributed to the high reserve price set by BDA. The deadline for responding to these tenders was January 4, 2010.
BDA which had at first auctioned the plot in April 2007, had invited fresh tenders for the plot, anticipating a higher bidder.
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It had invited two separate tenders as Unitech was prepared to develop one-fourth of the plot.
It may be noted that Unitech had emerged as the highest bidder for the 11-acre plot which was auctioned by BDA in April 2007. Unitech had offered to pay a staggering Rs 211 crore for the plot, a transaction unprecedented in the city's realty market.
However after payment of Rs 52 crore, the real estate firm had defaulted in paying the balance amount. The builder had cited economic meltdown as the reason for the non-payment of dues.
Thereafter, Unitech had sought back Rs 52 crore which it had deposited with the BDA which was spurned by the authority.
Unitech then sought permission for developing one-fourth of the plot as it had paid the proportionate amount.