Finally after much mulling over the issue and considering the present mood of property seekers, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has decided to place around 34 of its plots in the city for auction.
The auction process, to be conducted through e-bidding, is expected to be announced this month itself and a beleaguered HMDA looks at the possibility of the move bringing in some good revenue to it's empty coffers. “We have taken a decision to notify few new plots and several others that did not find takers in earlier auctions. The process is on and we will announce it soon,” says an official.
More than 30 plots at Miyapur, Nallagandla, Ramachandrapuram, Asifnagar and a lone yet big plot measuring 4.975 acres at Nandagiri Hills, are to go under hammer. The only addition in this round of auction is going to be 11 new plots developed at Gopanpally extension.
Last year in February, the HMDA had placed 96 plots for auction including the Nandagiri Hills plot and some of them were not picked up by prospective buyers then. Now again, the ‘left-over plots' are to be placed before the buyers and authorities are keen to make the best of the process and raise some good revenue.
The upset price for Nandagiri Hills was fixed at Rs.23.95 crore per acre in the last round and it failed to interest buyers. It was then felt that the upset pricing was too high which acted as a deterrent. Now, there is a general feeling among the Authority officials on slashing down the upset price for this particular stretch of land to make it more appealing.
The upset prices for February 2011 auctions was Rs.10,000 per square yard for plots at Ramachandrapuram, Nallagandla and Miyapur while it was Rs.11,000 per square yard for plots in Gopanpally.
According to the officials, the upset price for the left-over plots will remain the same and not likely to be tinkered with. “There is a positive trend towards property acquiring and this price is quite reasonable and should find favour with buyers,” he says. Last year, the HMDA toyed with the idea of going for auctions several times between July and December but refrained from the move given the tepid response towards real estate and also the Telangana agitation then. It was generally assumed that the agitation for separate State cast a shadow on the real estate and affected property buying.
