Congress Govt’s push for private players raises serious doubts in Kancha Gachibowli land row
Though court intervention has stalled the land auction for now, glaring inconsistencies and questionable decisions continue to emerge in the Kancha Gachibowli land row
Hyderabad: The more one digs into the controversial Kancha Gachibowli land project, the murkier it becomes. What began as a movement by students to protect the city’s green lung space has now exposed the underbelly of a potentially massive land scam – one that appears to be quietly nurtured under the Revanth Reddy government’s watch. Though court intervention has stalled the land auction for now, glaring inconsistencies and questionable decisions continue to emerge.
After the Congress government decided to auction the land, the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) in February this year, inviting private real estate consultancies to take over the master planning, layout plotting and execution of the 400-acre prime land parcel. According to the RFP, interested firms must have over 20 years of experience and a minimum annual turnover of Rs.500 crore.
The entire project, to be executed in a phased manner, required the participating real estate companies to invest around Rs.500 crore – Rs.800 crore to develop the layout, as mentioned by one of the applicants during the pre-bidding meeting.
But why hand over public land to private giants? That is the question being asked by urban planners and political observers alike. TGIIC, a State-owned body with a proven track record of executing landmark industrial layouts like Financial District, Dandu Malkapur, and Cherlapally, among others, has both the resources and institutional expertise to undertake such projects. Why, then, did the government decide to outsource a project of this magnitude to private real estate players?
Critics argue that in similar projects during the previous BRS regime, TGIIC entrusted the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) with both layout and auction, as seen in Neopolis, Budvel and Uppal Bhagayath. HMDA has both the resources and experience as well as a history of working with TGIIC in executing large-scale auctions in the past.
“What then is the rationale behind sidelining capable government agencies and opening the gates to private real estate firms in a project involving land worth Rs.30,000 crore?” asked a former bureaucrat familiar with the earlier model. He suspected that this could be an orchestrated move to allow select firms to gain a backdoor entry into Hyderabad’s hottest land bank – Kancha Gachibowli – under the pretext of professional consultancies.
Moreover, the Kancha Gachibowli land was earmarked for ‘IT and mixed use’. Allowing private real estate consultants to develop it for profit deviates not only from the original intent of attracting investments, but also raises fears of land misuse and value manipulation.
“TGIIC has awarded parts of development works to private contractors, but never involved real estate firms and handed over the entire responsibility to prepare master plan, plotting and auction of lands,” a former officer in the corporation pointed out.
Not so surprisingly, the RFP allows the real estate consultant for sourcing appropriate skills/resources available with its affiliates/associates/group companies, and also by way of appointing technical specialised consultants/experts for various tasks/activities as may be deemed necessary.
Adding to the growing list of concerns is the manner in which the Revanth Reddy government raised Rs.10,000 crore through loans using Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs). Instead of approaching a nationalised bank like State Bank of India (SBI), the government tied up with a private bank like ICICI and Beacon Trusteeship Limited – a private SEBI-authorised debenture trustee. While TGIIC is well within its rights to appoint such a debenture trustee as mandated by SEBI, many ask why public sector banks were bypassed in favour of private financial entities.
With thousands of crores at stake and public land being handed over for commercial exploitation under ambiguous terms, political observers are calling this a recipe for disaster. Unless the Revanh Reddy government comes out clean, the doubts will only grow longer over the alleged attempt to loot public land dressed up as development.
