Land Assembly project in Agra to take off soon

The UP government's initiative to establish Land Assemblies in major cities of the state has begun to show results in Agra.

Attracted by the construction boom in the local real-estate market, sixteen major construction companies of Delhi, Lucknow and Agra have applied for registration with the Agra Development Authority, to be granted a license to develop their projects in Agra.

According to the officials in the Land Assembly project, the authority shall earmark its prime land available in the city for the construction of housing projects. These projects shall only be offered to builders registered and licensed by the ADA.

According to official sources, Delhi-based builders registering for a license with the authority include Ansals, Nagarjun, Omaxe, Parshvnath, Uppal Housing & Rajshri, among others.

Some local builders have also applied for registration though the majority of applicants are from outside the town. Sources said the final tally of builders applying with the ADA for registration was sixteen and the decision on these applications would be made by the UP urban development ministry in a meeting to be held soon in Lucknow.

The ministry has already fixed guidelines for the issue of licenses and land to builders, which includes a license fee to be charged at a rate of Rs 40,000 per acre in the Agra municipal area.

The guidelines have classified builders into three categories""The "A" category builders will be those who have a minimum turnover of Rs 25 crores . "A" category builders shall also have the biggest claim on land, ranging from 100 acres and above.

The remaining two categories include builders with turnovers of Rs 15 crore and Rs 5 crore respectively, who shall be given a chance to get an allotment of upto 100 acres and upto 50 acres respectively. Notably, the ADA has already established a Rs 150 crore "Land Bank" in the town near the Taj Mahal to extend the urban population of the city towards its outskirts.

With builders jostling with each other for scarcely available open land inside the city, the 977-acre "Land Bank" could become the ideal choice for them to launch their projects, both residential and commercial.