AP Overhauls NTR Townships Scheme To Boost Plot Sales
Principal secretary (MA&UD) S. Suresh Kumar said the townships had been envisioned to provide affordable housing with quality infrastructure to AP’s growing middle class. But they progressed sluggishly.
VIJAYAWADA: The AP government has issued an order revising the guidelines for allotment of plots to MIG (middle-income groups) in layouts developed by the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department under the NTR Smart Townships scheme.
The revised guidelines are expected to generate public demand, accelerate the development of NTR Smart Townships and ensure allotment of plots in a transparent manner.
Principal secretary (MA&UD) S. Suresh Kumar said the townships had been envisioned to provide affordable housing with quality infrastructure to AP’s growing middle class. But they progressed sluggishly. Of the 74 approved projects across 66 assembly constituencies, only 36 NTR townships could be launched so far. Further, the uptake remained far below expectations, with just 29 per cent of the plots sold and only 23 per cent of the expected revenue realised.
According to the government, the low response stems from several structural limitations in the existing framework. These include lack of choice in choosing the plot due to allocation through lotteries, restrictive eligibility criteria such as the ₹18 lakh income cap, only one-plot-per-family rule, and absence of price differentiation based on plot size or location.
Officials say these factors significantly limited interest among potential beneficiaries and slowed down monetisation of the state-developed layouts.
The principal secretary said to overcome these bottlenecks, the government has now directed that no new applications for the launched layouts will be accepted. All pending applications will be disposed of through one-time lotteries. The remaining unsold plots in the layouts will be auctioned, duly following norms and government instructions.
Further, Suresh Kumar said in a more substantial shift, non-launched MIG projects under the scheme will be repurposed as commercial housing layouts taken up by the respective Urban Development Authorities (UDAs). Plots in these layouts will be disposed of in accordance with the prevailing UDA rules or as per further instructions of the government.
The principal secretary said this will help clear existing inventories and ensure that valuable urban land is put to productive use through a more flexible and responsive planning. He said the special officer for MIG layouts, Director of Town and Country Planning, and Engineer-in-Chief of Public Health have been asked to follow the latest guidelines and proceed further without any delay.