Bhubaneswar, July 27: Get help when you can't do it yourself.
Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) have decided to hire an independent real-estate agency to help them to rent out or utilise their unused properties.
The selected real-estate brokerage agency will formulate plans and develop strategies to rent out the nearly 50 designated properties. It will also develop marketing materials to advertise the properties for rent. It will advice the authorities on strategies to promote their properties.
The decision was made after the three agencies, especially the BDA and BMC, failed to rent out or utilise their new properties such as BMC-Bhawani Mall, BMC-Keshari Mall and BDA Commercial Complex. The authorities have so far failed to utilise these completed projects.
In the BMC-Bhawani Mall at Saheed Nagar, the corporation owns nearly 72,000sqft built-up area. It has decided to let out 46,691sqft on the second, third and fourth floors of the complex. Till date, however, it has only been able to let out 25,309sqft.
The story is not very different with the BDA, which has developed a state-of-the-art commercial complex at Nayapalli, but so far been unable to sell it. This structure has a ground floor with 12,614sqft plinth area, 13,724sqft first floor and 13,724sqft second floor.
The BMC-Keshari Mall at Unit-II has a 70,000sqft area with 214 shops, of which the BMC's share is 35 per cent. However, since the structure failed to get an occupancy certificate from the BDA in 2014, the BMC had a tough time utilising its share in the property. Sources said the structure got the certificate in 2015, but BMC is yet to let out some of its shops in the mall.
Officials said due to the high rent amount and selling prices, the properties are lying unused.
"BMC-Bhawani Mall is located at a prime location, just like BMC-Keshari Mall and the BDA Commercial Complex. The selling and renting rates have been fixed according to the demand of the locality, but it is not affordable at all. This is stopping city agencies from using the spaces," said a civic body official.
According to the price fixed by the authorities, each square foot area in the BMC-Bhawani Mall will cost a lender around Rs 30 per sqft while at BMC-Kesari Mall, it is about Rs 35 per sqft. At BDA Commercial Complex, the development authority decided to sell the floors with ground floor costing about Rs 7.47 crore, the first floor at Rs 7.39 crore and the second floor at Rs 6.79 crore.
Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said they had developed the properties keeping in mind market demand. He said: "We have realised the property prices are too high for many lenders and have decided to hire an expert agency to help us utilise our properties. We hope to get positive results."
Sources said the private agency would later extend help to sell the government's housing projects. Since BSCL is set to develop more such properties, the officials felt they needed external help.
