Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority considers auctioning resumed Kukatpally land

HYDERABAD: Having resumed about 24 acres of land from GS Gupta's joint venture DLF-SBPL Developers Pvt Ltd a couple of weeks back, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) is now mulling whether to auction off the prime land.
The plot allotted to DLF-SBPL is located in Kukatpally and has both potential and demand for commercial and residential purposes.As of now, the entire property is in commercial land usage but officials are planning to alter the layout to provide room for both commercial and residential use before going ahead with the auction.
Sources said that of 24.23 acres, two acres had been made available on rent for 60 days every year to private firms for holding exhibitions and like events.
This year, in order to generate higher revenues, HMDA called for lease tenders. With the rest of the plot, HMDA's plan is to make a layout in 15 acres (plotted area) and auction it off. As per rough estimates, HMDA's earnings from the exercise could be in excess of Rs 200 crore.
It may be recalled that in its recently drawn up budget estimates for 2012-13, HMDA has proposed to raise about Rs 355 crore through sale of land and plots.
"There is a proposal to put up the land in Kukatpally up for auction as part of resource mobilisation. The executive committee has to take a final call on the proposal.
"The HMDA has already written to the municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) department for cancelling a GO issued on August 12, 2008 allotting the plot to DLF-SBPL Pvt Ltd on lease. The cancellation orders are expected in a couple of days," HMDA member (estate), P Krishna Mohan Reddy, told TOI on Thursday.
The metropolitan authority has been eyeing sale of prime property to tide over its financial crisis. Scattered across the city, there are at present no more than 34 plots available for auction along with a 4.7 parcel of land in Nandagiri Hills.
While there has been no response for the said 34 plots, a price of Rs 55,000 per square yard has been quoted for the Nandagiri Hills plot although the allotment itself had to be cancelled after the bidder defaulted on the final payment.
The HMDA had initially decided to put the leftover plots up for auction along with the Nandagiri Hills land and a small layout in Gopanpally. As per estimates, these auctions may fetch Rs 114 crore.
With the Kukatpally land also available for auction, officials are in a dilemma over whether to hold simultaneous auctions for the leftover plots and the resumed plot or if it would be better to first auction off the leftover plots as the Kukatpally land may take some time before it has all the legal clearances, which may take a couple of months.
"A decision on land auction is likely to be taken during the resource development meeting on April 2," a senior HMDA official said.