Bhubaneswar, Oct. 14: The development authority has fast-tracked its three affordable housing projects in the city and plan to get the projects off the ground by February.

The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) will create about 5,000 dwelling units for the urban poor at Satya Nagar, Gadakana and Subudhipur where it will rehabilitate slum-dwellers. "We have already started moving Satya Nagar slum-dwellers to transit houses," said BDA vice-chairman Krishan Kumar.

Kumar said: "The agreement paper for the three projects is ready and will be signed with the executors shortly."

The Rs 154.73-crore project will come up in public-private-partnership mode as part of the state government's Housing for All scheme.

The developers will get 65 per cent of the project land to develop the houses at its own cost and recover the same by utilising the remainder of the land.

Sources said though the private executor will bear the cost of the projects, it was necessary to fix an amount and other modalities to ensure uniformity in the construction of the complexes. According to the agreement paper, the complexes and the floor plans will be uniform in all cases.

The development authority has also invited proposals from agencies interested to take up the project. It plans to complete the tender process by January and begin work by February. A national-level bidding process was initiated for the projects.

The Gadakana project will be the biggest one and cost Rs 79.63 crore and consist of nine five-storey blocks. The Satya Nagar will cost Rs 55.60 crore and developed over three blocks, while the Subuddhipur project will be developed over two blocks for an estimated Rs 19.50 crore.

Real-estate developers welcomed the move and urged the government to select local developers.

"We are aware of the local problems and issues, which is necessary to execute projects on time. An outsider might have a tough time," said Sangram Nayak, a real-estate developer here.