AP GOVERNMENT -ALL OUT & SOLD OUT – NTR HOUSING

Can you believe that there is mind boggling over 50000 crores corruption is planned in AP through 10 Lakh NTR houses planned and being executed under PMAY- AH program? Is it the gift CBN Government is giving to Late NTR during the release of his biopic? How will NTR family take it?

The details are as under:

• 10 Lakh houses with 265,365,465 sft sizes are planned. Let us take average size of each house is about 400 sft and total SFT proposed for construction is 40 crores.
• Excluding external infrastructure the contract is awarded to big players with tag size of minimum 10000 units @ Rs. 2700/sft inclusive of taxes. In TG state with 1000 unit tag size they awarded in the range of rs.1350 – 1450/sft inclusive of taxes (in AP there is escalation clause for cement, not in TG)
• The total contract value for 10 lakh houses in AP is coming to Rs.1.08 Lakh Crores.
• For external infrastructure GOI urban development schemes like Amrut etc. funds are used and it comes to Rs.400/sft. For entire project is comes to Rs.16, 000 crores.
• Government lands are used for this program. With average 250 houses / acre of land , about 4000 acres land is given to the program and with 5 Cr/Acre as rate the land component is Rs.20, 000 crores.
• The total project is costing around Rs. 1.44 Lakh crores.
• Do not think extra ordinary specifications are being used as the rate is Rs. 2700/sft. They are normal specs and in the name of sheer wall technology and by avoiding competition major loot is planned. In fact the shuttering used for temporary secretariat constructed with another inflated figure of over Rs.10, 000/sft is used in these projects, and hence it is almost free for contractor as he already booked double the cost in secretariat building.
• If the same project is sourced through private builders with same specs and even better quality norms on an average they will offer ready to occupy flat for Rs 2800/sft , hence the total out lay comes to 1,12,000 crores, which include decent contractor margin plus all other hidden costs .
• Where is the difference between 1, 44,000 Crores estimated cost minus 1, 12,000 crores if implemented in decentralized approach which comes to Rs.32, 000 crores plus savings in land bank of Rs20, 000 crores in total Rs,52,000 crores going?
• Why still people are still interested? There is straight subsidy component of Rs. 3 lakhs /house coming to Rs.750/- per sft. Not factoring in land cost and infra cost houses are offered and beneficiaries also are of the opinion that they need not pay bank instalments.  By not showing the land cost and infra costs met through urban infra programs into projects, these are passed on to contractors accounts and probably taken back.   
• Is it the way to express gratitude and tributes to NTR by looting the public money using his name as sentiment? Balakrishna Garu are you really sincere to your father? Can you show all these in biopic -2 openly and pay real tributes to your father?

Issues related to EWS house project (urban housing for poor)

• AP Government is taking up 1, 20,826 houses in 37 municipalities for the weaker sections of the society & named it as economically weaker section (EWS) housing program. Another 5000 plus houses are added in capital region.
• This program is part of GOI initiative - Housing for all (HFA) , covered under Prime minister Awas  Yojana  Affordable housing programme – PMAY-AHP. The program has inbuilt subsidy component of Rs.1.5 Lakhs from GOI & matching 1.5 Lakhs matching grant from respective state governments.
•  The balance will be beneficiary component & bank loan which shall be paid in instalments to bank.
• A group of ministers (GOM) under the chairmanship of Sri. Yenamala Ramakrishnudu, Finance minister was formed to look at “Urban development policy reforms” . They identified AP Township & infrastructure Development Corporation (APTIDCO) as nodal agency for construction in urban areas.
• The Government stated intention is to follow best practices such as technology, cost effectiveness, IT enabled designs & services. The officials were asked to visit 29 states to understand policies, guidelines, expenditure involved, standards followed. With all these experiences sum-up, our state made estimates which are highest and creating doubts about their ability or clearly established mollified intentions.  
• Apartments in three ranges 300 sft, 365 sft & 430 sft are being planned. Initially it was decided to go for G+ 3 model, later decided to for G+3, G+5, G+9.
• Monolithic structure with prefabricated slabs & shear wall technology is taken as unique selling concept instead of going for regular concrete & brick wall technology. By projecting this technology as unique concept (which is not), AP state is trying to increase sft rate by 40% than the conventional method.
• In fact technology is not new and many local builders also invested in mivan shuttering & shear wall technology and as the technology is already in existence for over 12 years, the initial investment costs have come down drastically and in fact all the companies have carry forward inventories  which shall be used economically. Instead this is projected as big thing and concrete rates including shuttering is estimated around Rs.20000/cum which is very much on higher side compare to conventional system.
•  In fact the technology should give advantage in time of completion other than quality. AP with this technology gave time frame as 15 months, whereas Telangana with conventional technology is planning to complete in 12 months.
• Though initially CM gave impression that local contractors will encouraged, later the package size is made minimum as 10,000 units to favour big players. Where as in Telangana it was limited to 1000 units & implementation is planned through local contractors and monitoring is given to local MLAS.
• As it was given to understand there was understanding to encourage Asoka builtcon, Pune for north coastal dists, East Godavari & Kurnool- L&T, West Godavari & Nellore – NCC, Krishna, Prakasam & Guntur –SP.  With BJP MLA Vishnu Kumar Raju support & blessings Vijaynirman gave stiff fight to get through the elimination process and got North coastal dists by quoting -0.5% . Where as in all other dists all other companies quoted +5% excess uniformly and the contracts are being awarded.   If there is no syndicate formation how this will happen?  In case of Krishna dist the tenders are cancelled as Vijaynirman & Mahalakshmi companies strongly objected for the selection process followed. Another indication of syndicate is single tender in many dists.
• AP estimates are Rs.1635/- sft as against Telangana estimate of Rs. 1298/- excluding taxes in both cases. AP awarded for 1720/sft as against 1300 to 1450/- in Telangana. In AP escalation for cement is allowed, as against fixed cement rate in TG.
• In case of Telangana the rate is inclusive of infrastructure and in AP infra is separately planned and overall cost   will be in the range of Rs.2400/sft .
• What do we expect from the Government which awarded Velgapudi secretariat buildings (6 lakh sft for 300 crs –rs.5000/sft –plug & play facility) and ended up spending about Rs.580 crores ( Rs.9700/sft- plug & play). The same contractors built 18 lakh sft with 700 crores similar quality or better quality building almost at same time  with plug & play concept for Rs.750 crores ( Rs. 4200/sft). Same contractors & same syndicate is being planned for this mega housing. We can imagine what is going to happen to the state.
• State initially planned secretariat with Rs.8000 crs outlay & now estimated cost overrun is Rs.1800 crores. It is reliably learnt that they are planning to divert funds from other program components like sanitation, infra etc from MA & UD department.
• In fact state is giving sand free & rates should come down drastically. While bringing in SSR rates, other state rates , technology etc in to picture they are trying to cover their motivates and  planning to get away.
• One will be surprised to see the specs being followed- cement flooring, Sal wood door frames, pvc door frames, flush doors, MS window grill, ordinary WC, Bib cocks, all at five star rates, these can happen only with this government.
• IF WE GIVE THIS POROGRAM WITH DECENT SPECS TO LOCAL BUILDERS THEY WILL COME FORWARD TO GIVE FLATS @ RS.1800 TO 2000/SFT INCLUSIVE OF ALL AND INCLUSIVE OF LAND COST . WHEREAS GOVT IS SPENDING ABOUT Rs.2700 to 3000/SFT INCLUDING TAXES AND IF LAND COST IS INCLUDED IT MAY GO BEYOND RS.3500/SFT.

STILL PUBLIC MAY BUY THESE APARTMENTS TO ACCESS 3 LAKHS SUBSIDY COMPONENT. MANY MAY NOT REPAY LOAN AND PROTEST AS THEY FEEL CHEATED. ONE HAS TO UNDERSTAND THAT 3 LAKHS SUBSIDY /LAND GIVEN BY GOVT TO THE PROJECT ARE NOT FRE, THEY ARE OUR RESOURCES/PUBLIC RESOURCES. GOVERNMENT IS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THESE RESOURCES. 

IS IT NOT BETTER OUTSOURCING THAN DOING IT ON OUR OWN? WHOM ARE THE PEOPLE GETTING BENIFITTED- CONTRACTORS, VESTED INTEREST GROPUS, NOT THE REAL BENEFICIRIES?

MAJOR LOOSERS ARE PUBLIC, TAX PAYERS OF THIS NATION.