Land auction begins in Noida India
Three hundred acres of land owned by the Noida Development Authority is up for grabs in this satellite town of Delhi – in one of the biggest land auctions in India that began Monday.
With giant developers and big names in real estate eying the land, the authorities expect to mop up over $1.2 billion (Rs.50 billion) in the process. The project will involve developing it into a commercial and residential zone with all the facilities to function as a self-sufficient city.
The Noida administration has received bids from various construction firms, including DLF Universal Limited, Unitech and Indian Building Corporation (IBC) – some of the biggest players in development and construction in India.
“The bids have only been opened for technical evaluation. The financial aspects of the bids will be considered at a later stage,” a Noida Development Authority source told IANS.
While this land deal, said to be the biggest in recent times after the National Textile Corporation (NTC) sale in Mumbai, is seeing lot of enthusiasm from big developers, there is opposition from local residents and small builders, who have been kept out of it.
Many allege it is an absolutely “non-transparent process”. They say bungling can occur in such a closed process, especially with vested interests – political as well as commercial – involved.
The Noida Development Authority will be looking at the technical bids to assess whether the bidders have the infrastructure to complete the project.
The entire process is also subject to a final decision from the Allahabad High Court, which is hearing petitions filed by smaller players who have been excluded from the bidding process because of the tough eligibility criteria.
Some of the traders have also held protests outside the Noida Development Authority office against the stringent qualifying rules.
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