The state government is in the throes of a financial crisis but such a situation would not have come to pass if sarkari agencies had not sold the family silver for a song in the past few years.A prime example is the manner in which seven years ago the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC ) gave away 500 acres of prime property in the plush Gachibowli area to a private developer,Emaar Properties PJSC,for a pittance to develop a residential-cum-commercial project.
Worse,it even failed to put clauses in the agreement it signed with Emaar to ensure that the state earned a fair revenue.
The result The state lost huge revenues: Rs 2,500 crores claimed by some Congress MLAs publicly on Tuesday and twice the amount as per market sources.Further,it has now also lost control over this land with Emaar Properties recently selling its stake in this project Boulder Hills to Emaar MGF.
As the name suggests,the latter is an offshoot of the Emaar group.Morever,APIICs equity share in the joint venture with Emaar (Emaar Hills Township Private Limited ) also came down to a meagre 4% from the original 26% and it lost the 500 acre prime property for good.
With APIICs share in the project being in the form of land and the price of land fixed at Rs 29 lakh an acre,its share has dropped drastically even as land values have gone up, said an industry insider.So when some Congress MLAs demand a CBI probe,its a demand that came too late,analysts averred.
It all began in August 2003 when APIIC and Dubaibased Emaar Properties PJSC inked a deal to develop Boulder Hills on 535 acres in Manikonda village opposite the Indian School of Business (ISB).APIIC sold 285 acres for Rs 29 lakh an acre when the prevailing rate,as per realtors to whom TOI spoke,was a whopping Rs one crore an acre!
Even the remaining 235 acres (15 acres was unusable land) was leased out for 66 years at a negligible rate of 2% of the total revenue made by the international golf course planned on this land.
Further,analysts pointed out that while the APIICEmaar integrated township project was clearly a development agreement it failed to list out the terms of such an agreement,significantly missing the revenuesharing detail.As per the agreement the core job of Emaar was to develop the area into a commercial and residential belt.It had no other obligations like generating employment, said an analyst listing out the norms of such an agreement.
Comment :
Successively Governments in Ap have been selling away Public land to private parties to generate profits for private companies. This is unusual and unjust. Public Land belongs to us and the future generations. Its not private property of an elected Govt. What is required is a law banning sale of Govt land to any private company. The land may be leased for certain years but never sold off to private companies. When its allowed to be sold, the people involved take huge kick backs and sell away land belonging to the citizens for peanuts.
Its laughable that Govt sells away land for 5 or 15L per acre and the private company will keep it for few years and sell at hundred times and take profit!
Keyword Tags Hyderabad News,Emmar Hyderabad, Emmar, Emmar Gachibowli, Emmar Project, Emmar Golf Course
Rate News on a Scale of 5. 5th Star Correspond to 5.
VIEW DETAILS. BOOKING IS OPEN
