Hi-Tech City project a stand still
Hi-Tech City project a standstill-After 5 yrs, two reviews and two tender bids, Maya govt to rework
AFTER two policy reviews and two tender bids, the Hi-Tech City policy goes under review once again, failing to move even an inch in last five years.
The project has been shelved for now, though 25 investors have purchased application forms at a price of Rs 25,000 each. They include DLF, JPI, Oppal, Ansals, Omaxe and Sahara.
The government feels that there are some "critical parameters'' in the policy, which need to be worked out. "Masterplan of the respective cities, zoning pattern, land use pattern, floor area ratio, density, ground coverage area are a few parameters which need to be reworked," confirmed SC Mishra, Director, Awas Bandhu - the nodal agency for the project.
he government has also deferred the pre-bid conference of investors, which was scheduled to take place this month. Besides, it has indefinitely postponed the last date for submission of the applications - June 9 - till further orders. Touted as Mulayam Singh Yadav's dream project, the Hi-Tech Cities scheme was conceptualised and launched in 2003 with an aim to attract private sector investment in housing. The previous government spent Rs 20 lakh on advertisements alone to publicise the scheme. But within six months, the policy was reviewed to relax the eligibility criteria for investors.
To carry out the project, the previous government had also constituted a committee headed by the chief secretary, assisted by secretaries of housing and finance, commissioners of urban development and housing, as well as the chief town planner of UP and experts from IIT and IIM.
But in Mulayam's regime, the only progress this scheme made was the screening of tenders. Over ten big names, including Unitech, Uppal, Ansal, Sahara and Parshvanath had come forward to set up HiTech township in six cities -Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Mathura, Agra and Varanasi -- identified by the government.
But after coming to power in May, the Mayawati government cancelled the licence of Ansals and besides reviewing the policy itself, decided to re-evaluate all the proposals for Hi-Tech Cities.
The revised policy was released in November. It facilitated the investor more and gave them the freedom to choose the site of their interest. The policy goes for a further review once again.
AFTER two policy reviews and two tender bids, the Hi-Tech City policy goes under review once again, failing to move even an inch in last five years.
The project has been shelved for now, though 25 investors have purchased application forms at a price of Rs 25,000 each. They include DLF, JPI, Oppal, Ansals, Omaxe and Sahara.
The government feels that there are some "critical parameters'' in the policy, which need to be worked out. "Masterplan of the respective cities, zoning pattern, land use pattern, floor area ratio, density, ground coverage area are a few parameters which need to be reworked," confirmed SC Mishra, Director, Awas Bandhu - the nodal agency for the project.
he government has also deferred the pre-bid conference of investors, which was scheduled to take place this month. Besides, it has indefinitely postponed the last date for submission of the applications - June 9 - till further orders. Touted as Mulayam Singh Yadav's dream project, the Hi-Tech Cities scheme was conceptualised and launched in 2003 with an aim to attract private sector investment in housing. The previous government spent Rs 20 lakh on advertisements alone to publicise the scheme. But within six months, the policy was reviewed to relax the eligibility criteria for investors.
To carry out the project, the previous government had also constituted a committee headed by the chief secretary, assisted by secretaries of housing and finance, commissioners of urban development and housing, as well as the chief town planner of UP and experts from IIT and IIM.
But in Mulayam's regime, the only progress this scheme made was the screening of tenders. Over ten big names, including Unitech, Uppal, Ansal, Sahara and Parshvanath had come forward to set up HiTech township in six cities -Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Mathura, Agra and Varanasi -- identified by the government.
But after coming to power in May, the Mayawati government cancelled the licence of Ansals and besides reviewing the policy itself, decided to re-evaluate all the proposals for Hi-Tech Cities.
The revised policy was released in November. It facilitated the investor more and gave them the freedom to choose the site of their interest. The policy goes for a further review once again.