The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) will take up the third phase of housing under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) shortly.
As many as 3,072 houses will be constructed in phase-III of the housing near Shriram Energy Plant in Ajithsingh Nagar and Kabela in the city. The corporation has awarded the contract to Hyderabad-based firms—Vensan Constructions and Chabbra Constructions.
The successful bidders have been asked to commence works in the first week of July. The VMC divided the phase-III into eight packages of 32 houses each for executive convenience.
While each package will have 12 blocks, in all 96 blocks with ground plus three floors were designed. The successful bidders have quoted 10 per cent less than estimated cost of the project, officials say.
‘Burden less'
The burden on the corporation would be less in phase-III compared to phases I and II as the government has increased the cost of each unit considerably. The government pegged the cost at Rs. 1.04 lakhs for each unit in phases I and II. Now it is enhanced to Rs. 2.45 lakhs. Of this, the beneficiaries have to pay Rs. 10,000 as their contribution for allotment of a dwelling unit and also agree to repay a bank loan of Rs. 30,000. Remaining would be borne by the VMC and the State government.
The corporation, under JNNURM, has been sanctioned 28,152 houses in four phases. Of this, the construction of about 15,000 houses were taken up in phase-I and 6,752 houses in phase-II. The cost of each unit and the total project cost vary in each phase. The total cost of all four projects was estimated at Rs. 643 crores initially, but the figure has gone up to Rs. 817.24 crores due to escalation in the prices of materials used in the construction.
It may be recalled that the cost of each unit under phase-I and phase-II was initially pegged at Rs. 1.32 lakhs and Rs. 1.40 lakhs, respectively. Later, the cost was revised as Rs. 2.08 lakhs. The cost of each unit under phase-III and phase-IV was estimated at Rs. 2.40 lakhs.
