Home sweet home: National Games Housing Complex in Ranchi

Ranchi, March 1: The four-year-long wait will end in another two months.

With the National Games over, those who had bought flats in the swanky housing complex at Khel Gaon in Hotwar can now hope to move into their dream homes with the developer planning to hand over the units from the first week of May.

Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCC), which built the National Games Housing Complex of 1,796 apartments, is also looking for more buyers for the 10 per cent flats that haven’t been booked yet.

“We will paint the residential complex once again before finally handing over the flats to the owners. Some windows and water taps, which came off during the Games, need to be repaired,” said Ajay Kumar, an executive (sales) of NCC.

The renovation and painting works are expected to begin soon. “It will take about two months to wrap up everything. Thereafter, we will start distributing the flats,” Kumar added.

After bagging the contract, NCC started developing the residential complex spread over 56 acres in 2006. The state government did not spend anything, as it gave the land to NCC under a flat-sharing agreement of 12:88. This meant, that out of a total 1,796 flats that were to be built, the government would get 220, while NCC, which invested well over Rs 250 crore on the project, would be free to sell the rest.

The developer opened booking in 2007. Initially, according to the contract, the flats were offered to local landowners from whom the state had acquired land in 1960s. But as only 250 of the landowners showed interest, the rest of the units were made available to the general public for purchase.

As of now, of the 1,796 flats, 1,200 are ready. However, the owners of the flats could not take possession as the National Games were deferred several times.

“About 80 per cent (which comes to about 844) of our flats have been sold. Bookings are open for the rest,” Kumar said.

On offer are two, three BHK (bedroom, hall, kitchen) apartments and duplexes (penthouses or row houses) with prices ranging between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 45 lakh depending on the super built-up area. There are also modern facilities like health clubs, gymnasium, meditation and yoga hall, indoor game room, library, billiard hall, table tennis hall and swimming pool.

“We are desperately waiting to take possession of our flat,” said Atul Kumar Sinha, whose Mumbai-based sister has bought a flat in Khel Gaon.

The state government, on the other hand, is yet to decide what to do with its share of flats. “The government is yet to take a final decision whether to go ahead and sell the units or to keep them for future use,” said Nitin Madan Kulkarni, special secretary of sports department.