For all those who have been eyeing a dream home in Rajarhat, but daunted by the rack rates, here’s hope. A residential rendezvous with 20,000 apartments is set to come up in New Town in four years.

The mass-housing scheme has been conceptualised by the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (Hidco) on 150 acres north of the Bagjola canal. The project can be accessed from the east-west connector by a 48-metre-wide road.

Hidco had sought expression of interest from reputed developers/builders/construction companies with “adequate financial capability/resources” for developing the land and constructing 20,000 dwelling units for low and middle income groups in the proportion of 60:40.

In addition, a 50-acre developed plot will be offered to the successful bidder for “commercial/business purposes, including IT and ITES (information technology-enabled services)”. Hidco will provide the peripheral services, including approach road, peripheral water supply, power supply, storm water drainage and sewerage.

The price of an LIG (low income group) unit (built-up area around 400 sq ft) will not exceed Rs 3 lakh and that of an MIG (middle income group) flat (built-up area around 600 sq ft) Rs 6 lakh. Hidco’s guidelines also specify that the difference between the carpet area and built-up area of a flat must not exceed 20 per cent.

“Our vision is to create a township, a vibrant community with this mass housing complex. The primary objective behind Rajarhat was always decongesting Calcutta and this project should contribute significantly towards that. We also want to emphasise that New Town is not just for IT or elite housing, it’s also the seat for affordable residential resources," says Hidco managing director R.K. Tripathy.

The entry barriers were stiff, ruling out most of the city-based developers. The stipulations specified that the applicant company/lead partner in a joint-venture company or special purpose vehicle in the fray must have an “average annual turnover above Rs 200 crore in a relevant field” during the past four years. Besides, it must have constructed “during the past four years residential building/commercial complex of more than 10 lakh sq ft”.

The selected developer can invite applications from persons belonging to monthly (household) income category up to Rs 9,000 in case of LIG and Rs 9,001 to Rs 18,000 in case of MIG (supported by affidavit). The eventual allottees will be picked through open public lottery.

The project has to be completed in four years from the date of handing over land to the agency by Hidco.

“This is probably the single biggest social housing initiative undertaken in one location in the country and reinforces the clear vision of the state government to provide economically viable housing for all,” says Harsh Neotia, the managing director of Bengal Ambuja Housing Development Ltd.

Neotia had pioneered the joint-sector model with Udayan, The Condoville on the Bypass, and has carried the cross-subsidy concept forward with subsequent projects like Utsa and now Ujjwala (both in Rajarhat) and Upohar (to come up near Peerless Hospital).

The Hidco guidelines state that the developer of the mass housing project should also provide the “core physical and social facilities” within the 150 acres. These will include shopping facilities, two primary schools of minimum 10 rooms each, one hospital, one community centre and small offices of cooperative housing societies.

“It’s the most audacious scheme ever conceived in India ? 20,000 dwelling units for those demographic categories which would otherwise find it difficult to access housing in any organised format. It’s also an interesting challenge for the developer to create a township on such a mammoth scale for a population in excess of one lakh,” says Sumit Dabriwal of Hiland Park fame.

All the four applicants ? the L&T-Simplex Consortium, Shapoorji Pallonji, Ahluwalia Contractors and the Nagarjuna Group ? had to submit a detailed design/concept plan.

This had to incorporate a modular concept (for easy disbursement and maintenance by cooperative societies in future) for the entire 150 acres, including the layout of the residential buildings.

Provisions for physical and social amenities, utility network, afforestation plan and development of water bodies, rainwater harvesting and package waste treatment plant had to be included in the design concept.

The selected developer will have to submit a quality assurance plan.