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APIIC goof-up
APIIC goof-up, DLF, Purvankara, ITC, APIIC, Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation. Knowledge City shelved as land sold to the project was heritage site. Developers are demanding refund .
Knowledge City shelved as land sold to the project was heritage site. Developers are demanding refund
Real estate biggies like DLF, Purvankara and ITC are livid at APIIC allotting 105 acres as part of the Knowledge City project at Raidurgam in 2008 even as some part of the land was already declared as heritage site way back in 2003. With this big ticket project is now officially shelved, the APIIC is left with no other alternative but to refund the money amounting to some Rs 2000 crore
The much hyped Knowledge City project of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) at Raidurgam is in a catch 22 situation over the land allotted for the project.
It is five years since the project with a total investment of Rs 15,000 crore has been embarked. But the companies which bought acres of land for princely prices to invest in the prestigious venture have been bitten by the heritage bug.
Apparently, the Andhra Pradesh Government had declared 532 acres in Raidurgam village, including that allotted for the Knowledge City, as heritage land, back in 2003.
Oblivious to this, companies such as DLF (which bought 31 acres), Puravankara Projects (20 acres), My Home Industries (5 acres), Salarpuria Sattva (30 acres) and ITC (5 acres) paid over Rs 20 crore an acre after winning the auction in 2008.
Right now, these property developers who had bought land are unable to put the real estate into use, as the heritage committee refused to permit construction on the plots in December 2013. And a few of the property developers are considering legal action, accusing the APIIC of hiding the key information.
Apparently, the agency had sold 105 acres to some 13 companies for Rs 2,019 crore, for the Hyderabad Knowledge City project. According to estimates, the proposed project covering 11-12 million square feet would have created about one lakh jobs.
Most of these companies have lost faith in the government agency and want the government return the money they have paid for the land in 2008, says the chief executive of one of the companies, to Exclventures.com. The developers don’t want to go ahead with the project as they are denied permission to take up construction of any civil structures on the land.
“We paid a premium price for the land as against the current valuations of Rs 10-12 crore per acre. But, with the current state of affairs, we are carefully examining all the possibilities to initiate the legal course of action, including the arbitration mechanism within a month,” said J Rameswar Rao, chairman of My Home Industries to Exclventures.com.
According to the builders and government officials, the layout shown by APIIC hasn’t yet received approval from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. While Salarpuria Sattva was awaiting clearance from the government, Puravankara Projects had opted for the refund of Rs 403 crore it had paid and decided to withdraw from the project. “The project has been delayed and we are waiting for the clearance from the government agency,” said Bijay Agarwal, managing director of Salarpuria group.
Additionally, earlier this year, Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy laid the foundation stone for a Rs 350-crore Gaming Animation Media and Entertainment (GAME) City Project at Raidurgam. According to the APIIC, 30 acres had been allotted for the GAME City project for housing gaming, animation, media and entertainment companies. Here, DLF bagged a bonanza. In response to the request by APIIC to take an alternative plot, DLF sought the allotment of the 30-acre plot which was earmarked for the construction of the GAME City which project DLF would be executing. According to APIIC, this particular piece of land at Raidurgam does not come under the heritage land.
APIIC Managing Director Jayesh Ranjan, in an earlier interview, had said not all the land allotted by it in Raidurg village came under heritage status.
Irked Jayesh Ranjan on Thursday told Hyd Hans, “This is APIIC’s internal affair and we will come up with solutions.” When asked if a committee has been formed to look into the issues, he said, “No, we have not set up any committee, as of now. Apparently we are refunding the money to one purchaser, Puravankara Projects, and we have given DLF an alternative, which is the GAME City.”
