The state is all set to witness one of the biggest real estate developments by a public sector. Bihar State Housing Board (BSHB) has embarked on the much-awaited ambitious project of developing 12,538 residential flats in Patna, as many as 12,696 in Gaya and another 1,496 in Muzaffarpur over the next two to three years.

Aimed at providing complete housing solutions, these projects would be developed in the form of integrated townships having amenities such as primary school, primary health centre, community centre, bank, employment exchange and others with 70 per cent green space. Each tower in these townships would have 15 to 21 floors.

The Telegraph answers a few basic queries of stakeholders:

How many old allotments of the BSHB would be settled through these projects?

Total 928 flats at S, T and U sectors in Lohianagar and 2,752 flats at Sector 3 and 6 in Bahadurpur would be awarded to old allottees. The remaining 8,858 flats would be allotted to new applicants.

What steps would be taken to ensure the quality or strength of the apartments?

The private developer(s) would have to get the structural design approved by an IIT, and engineers and architects of the BSHB before construction. The construction material would be checked at the state quality-testing laboratory and an independent monitoring agency would supervise the work. The developer would also have a defect liability period and the life of the structures would be a minimum of 100 years. Defect liability period is a time whereby the contractor must repair any fault identified by the supervising officer after a particular work was completed. All expenses to repair the defects would have to be borne by the contractor and no additional costs would be charged to the government.

The BSHB projects entail mammoth investment amounting to Rs 9,275 crore from the private sector. What steps has the BSHB taken to ensure returns for the investors?

Under the public-private partnership mode of execution, the developer would construct housing units on residential land according to terms and conditions of the BSHB. In return, they would get commercial land on which they would get lease rights for development of hotels, malls, offices and others. The developers can earn revenue through renting them out or sub-letting them at the rates fixed by them.

Who would allot the flats — the developer or the BSHB?

After the flats are ready for possession, the developer would hand them over to the BSHB. Acting as the owner of the property, the BSHB would allot the flats according to its policy.

What would be the procedure for booking and payments?

The BSHB would tie up with scheduled commercial banks for providing loans to allottees. Once the private developer is selected and work is awarded to it, the BSHB would start booking for allotment of the housing units. The bank would handle the allotment process and collection of booking amount. The allotment would be based on a computerised lottery system. The banks would pay the entire cost of the flat to the BSHB against the loan taken by the allottees.

Can an allottee transfer flat to a third party after allotment by the BSHB?

The ownership of a flat can be transferred to the third party after payment of 50 per cent of the profit (a person would make by selling it at the market rate) to the BSHB. This criterion would not apply in case of transfer of ownership among people having blood relations — son, daughter, brother and sister.

Why would BSHB flats be around 50 per cent cheaper than the market rates?

Cost of the land, the highest component in the price of flats, does not apply in this case because the land is already owned by the BSHB. The cost of the flat covers only construction cost, a small per cent of profit and a few other elements.