Tata Housing inks revised agreement with Maldives

According to the agreement, the project is to complete a housing project in Male being developed at an investment of about Rs 1,000 cr

Tata Housing today signed a revised agreement with the Maldives government to complete a housing project in Male being developed at an investment of about Rs 1,000 crore.

The pact paves the way for resumption of construction work on the project that has been on hold for two years due to some issues over terms & conditions of the contract.

In 2010, Tata group's realty firm Tata Housing had signed agreement with the then Maldives government to develop the housing project on 4 different sites in that country.

According to the agreement, Tata Housing had to develop 350 affordable homes on 2 sites and hand it over to the Maldives government. The company got the other 2 sites for free sale.

However, sources said that the project was delayed because of the pending resolution of certain unavoidable contractual issues. Now, both the parties have mutually accepted the revised terms and conditions.

Tata Housing said in a statement that it has "signed addendum agreement with the Government of Maldives for the successful completion of the residential projects in Male".

As per the revised agreement, Tata Housing will now have to give 150 more affordable units to Maldives government. These homes need to be handed over within one year.

"With the revised agreement, the company will resume work on the Gaakoshi and Arabiyya sites," Tata Housing said.

The agreement was signed by Tata Housing MD & CEO Brotin Banerjee in the presence of Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Mohamed Muizzu in Maldives.

"The agreement of this project was signed in May 2010 between the government of Mohamed Nasheed and Apex Realty Pvt Ltd to develop luxury holiday villas and premium apartments under the brand 'La Grande'. Apex Realty is a joint venture between Tata Housing and SG 18 Realty," the statement said.

Banerjee said: "We are delighted with this development and look forward to working with the Maldives government to develop the project.

"We are positive that this will significantly contribute towards building strong bi-lateral relations between India and Maldives, thereby, encouraging other companies in India to enter into similar JVs."

Banerjee said the company is committed to deliver the residential apartments to the people and Maldives government and foresee huge demand potential of the project.

Tata Sons Ltd holds 99.86 per cent of equity share capital of Tata Housing. The realty firm is developing 70 million sq ft area and an additional 19 million sq ft is in the pipeline.