Vijayawada: The state government has started almost a last minute search for buildings for housing the heads of departments (HoD)s, with the fast-approaching deadline of June 27 for beginning governance from Vijayawada city.
The authorities are hurriedly looking at suitable buildings, offering rents from Rs 18 to Rs 30 per sq foot, but accommodation is not available in the city.
The various government departments need nearly 50,000 sq feet of space, while most buildings have only 5,000 sq feet: office space for the HoDs remains an unsolved issue.
The officials of the state government, including Revenue and Municipal departments, are now supervising the finalization of buildings and rental issues.
According to officials, the state government has already readied almost 10 lakh square feet of space in various parts of the city.
The special teams are currently searching for space in seven mandals, from the stretch of Kan-kipadu-Ibrahimp-atnam-G Konduru-Gan-navaram-Nunna, to accommodate 110 HoD offices.
Several departments have already submitted their space requirement details to officials.
Only the Revenue de-partment requires 75,000 sq feet, every department needing anything from a minimum of 10,000 sq feet to 25,000 sq feet.
Departwent-wise requirements come to more than 50 lakhs sq feet while the officials say that 25 lakh-30 lakh sq feet of space is sufficient.
But the biggest buildings, with more than 5,000 sq feet of space, number very few within city limits and a majority of the departments are asking the government to provide space under one roof.
Vijayawada Builders Association president Gadde Rajalingam said that the government should select vacant buildings close to engineering colleges in the city for this purpose so that the departments could get space under one roof.
AP housing department project director V Sarat Babu said that the special teams were on the lookout for the right buildings in the seven mandals.
The director said that they were uploading information on the space available on the website so that officials from the various departments could make a selection.
