Bhubaneswar, Feb. 24: Two agencies of the state government have joined hands to build houses in the city for all sections of the society.
Come March, the Odisha State Housing Board and the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) will launch projects to construct more than 5,100 houses in and around the city.
The projects involve construction of over 600 houses, including those in the low-income group (LIG), middle-income group (MIG) and high-income group (HIG) near Dumduma and Ransinghpur on the city outskirts.
The housing board and the BDA will also develop 4,500 houses exclusively for the economically weaker section (EWS) near Patia.
However, while the plan of the two housing board projects are likely to be ready within a day or two, the one for people belonging to the EWS near Patia may take some more time as it involves central subsidy to the tune of Rs 75,000 for each house under various welfare schemes.
While the cost for LIG, MIG and HIG houses under the housing board will be decided by costing and engineering experts within a fortnight, the EWS houses will be priced at Rs 5.35 lakh per unit as they will be under various rehabilitation schemes for slum dwellers.
The Ransinghpur housing project, named as Ransinghpur-II, will be developed over 12.85 acres. Similarly, the Dumduma housing project Phase-VI will be built on two plots measuring 2.137 acres and 3.851 acres, respectively.
(Top) Buildings at Patia and (above) the Ransinghpur area where the Odisha State Housing Board will start a housing project. Telegraph pictures
These areas are now in demand following the development of national level institutes such as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and a local campus of Doon School.
While the housing board has finished a project involving self-financed flats at Ransighpur two years ago, it is also developing a huge residential complex in public private partnership mode in front of the AIIMS campus.
Housing board secretary Shyam Sundar Nayak said: 'We have planned to start the Dumduma and Ransinghpur projects by March-end. These two and the EWS project near Patia will substantially contribute to supplement the housing stock of the city, which is growing very fast.''
Housing board chief engineer Anoop Kumar Panigrahi said: 'Land for our upcoming projects at Dumduma and Ransinghpur is with us. But there was a major change in the layout plan of the Ransinghpur-II project after the planning wing of the BDA told us about a 100ftwide road passing through the land.''
The housing board was already having a 60ft wide road along the Ransinghpur-I project. As the second project is located just near the earlier one, the engineers were planning it with the existing road in mind.
'We had to ask our design consultant to change the layout plan as we were told by the BDA planning wing on existence of the master plan road, which is part of the comprehensive development plan. It would link the AIIMS area with Sundarpada, Dhauli and Old Bhubaneswar. The new layout plan has been submitted today along with the plan for Dumduma project,'' Panigrahi said.
The engineering head of housing board said that the Patia EWS housing project would be for rehabilitation of slum dwellers. While the housing board will develop 2,500 housing units over 18 acres, the BDA will develop 2,000 EWS houses on 15 acres.
The housing board secretary told The Telegraph that in order to satiate the need for the demand of affordable houses in the city, itwould develop an exclusive project on 40 acres of land in Malipada near Gothapatna, which is slowly emerging as a major growth centre on the city outskirts.
