Orissa to sign DLA with Vipul

Bhubaneswar: The Orissa State Housing Board (OSHB) will sign the development-lease agreement (DLA) with Gurgaon based Vipul after the latter pays it Rs 114.75 crore in cash instead of furnishing bank guarantee.

The company has already paid Rs 38.25 crore as advance to OSHB towards 25 percent of the bid value of Rs 153 crore for a housing project on the outskirt of the city. It had agreed to pay the entire bid amount within 75 days from the issue date of the letter of intent (LoI), state housing minister A U Singhdeo said.

The Housing Board plans to develop an integrated housing project (IHP) at Ranasinghpur and Patrapada in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode. The project will come up over 18.189 acres of land, for which open tender was invited in May 2007.

Vipul Ltd. bagged the project through highest bid of Rs 153 crore and the DLA is expected to be signed soon. If the company defaults in the payment after signing of the lease agreement, it will be penalized, the minister said.

He said, the estimated cost of the project will be about Rs 600 crore and about 1033 dwelling units are proposed to be constructed. Out of it, 20 percent of the units will be earmarked for low income group (LIG) and economically weaker sections (EWS).

Singhdeo said, 10 projects worth Rs 734.02 crore have been taken up by the OSHB in the state from 2005-06.