The Andhra Pradesh Housing Board (APHB) has put on hold its housing scheme for Class IV government employees due to poor public response. The APHB had received just 300 applications for the 3,000 Low Income Group (LIG) flats.
In December, the APHB had invited applications from Class IV employees for LIG flats to be constructed in Krishna, Visakhapatnam, Ranga Reddy, Nellore and Nalgonda districts, and also at Kukatpally, Bandlaguda, Chandanagar, Nizampet and Red Hills in the city. The Board has now dropped construction plans except at Red Hills here, and in Visakhapatnam.“We received just 300 applications. For the time being, we will take up these two projects,” APHB Chief Engineer B. Raja Gopal Rao said.
The APHB had come out with a ‘hire-purchase scheme’ for the project, under which prospective buyers needed to pay only 40 per cent of the cost. The remainder could be paid in EMIs over 10 years. However, the flats would be handed over to the buyers only after payment of the first 40 per cent amount. APHB officials attribute the huge distance between the city and suburbs as reason for the poor response to its projects at Chandanagar, Nizampet, Kukatpally and Bandlaguda. “Buyers are interested in properties in the city owing to concentration of offices here. But we have limited land parcels within the city and cannot offer much,” said an official.
