‘Housing will boost city economy’

Visakhapatnam: Housing on a large scale for the working class will give a boost to the city economy, said chief secretary SP Tucker in a meeting with the local officials here on Tuesday.

He said houses should be built for the employees with all the infrastructure so that it will save their travelling time and money.

Many factories are located on the outskirts of the city and thousands of workers travel more than 50 km every day, he said.

Tucker said apartment complexes lower than the market prices would be built with the private partnership and the private builders would be given enough incentives if they came forward. Similarly, bank loans would also be arranged for the beneficiaries.

He said two projects will be finalised soon 65,000 houses at Achyutapuram and 35,000 in Anandapuram.

He said 330 acres of private land and 380 acres of land under APIIC was available at Achyutapuram.

He said in principle it was agreed to build housing complex in 400 acres of government land in Anandapuram.

The chief secretary said in cities like Kolkota, massive houses were built in small extent of land and the same idea could be implemented here also.

The housing complexes will have all the facilities like hospital, schools and shopping complex so that the residents need not go far.

“If two lakhs houses can be built in the city, the financial turnover will be around Rs 15,000 crore to Rs Rs 20,000 crore,’’ Tucker said.

He suggested that an expert should be appointed as a consultant so that the projects can be grounded fast and added that the projects should be completed in 18 months.

The government on its part will decide on the beneficiaries who will be eligible for allotment, he added.