Bhubaneswar civic body to e-auction 112 commercial spaces
BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to let out its share in one of the city’s oldest market complexes located in Unit IV here. It has decided to e-auction the shops it owns in this foremost public-private partnership project in the city.
According to the order issued by BMC in this regard, the civic body will e-auction the 112 shop rooms or assets owned by it. Altogether 60 units are up for auction on the ground floor, 31 shops on the first floor and six units each on the second, third and fourth floors. The civic body will also auction three units, to be used as godowns, belonging to it in the basement.
“After taking possession of our share in the market complex, we have decided to go for e-auction of our properties. We are not going to sell the spaces but will rent it for three years. We have also fixed very low prices for the shops,” BMC deputy commissioner (market) Ashok Lenka said.
This market complex in Unit IV is one of the oldest projects taken up by the BMC in public-private partnership mode back in 1999. The project, however, was marred by a series of problems ever since it was launched. After the agreement, the private partner was supposed to complete the project in four years but it got delayed by almost two decades.
According to the agreement, the BMC and the private partner will execute the project in a 35:65 ratio. The other PPP projects executed in a similar fashion — one in Saheed Nagar and another in Unit II area — started around the same period, however, were completed on time.
“The market complex in Unit IV faced many hurdles during execution. First it was the land issue, then the local vendors of the market opposed it and then the private partner had issues in obtaining the occupancy certificate from BDA,” said Lenka saying problems are resolved .
