No takers for pricey model marts
Model markets in the city have few takers. These were supposed to facilitate more than 30 lakh people and are lying vacant due high rents charged by the civic body.
According to top sources in GHMC, the civic body had during its 100-day action plan in 2015 decided to construct 50 model markets against the target of 200. The corporation completed the construction of just 40. Another 54 are under various stages of construction.
Each market was constructed at a cost of `20.33 crore. There are seven shops in the ground floor, each of 70 to 140 sqft, and the first floor eight shops with parking, toilets and other facilities.
The markets were valued much higher than the current rate. When the average rent for a shop in the open market is `10,000, one in the model market had a rent of `25,000-30,000.
A senior GHMC official said the government issued GO No 82 on March 28, 2016, which stated that the rent should be 15 per cent more than the market value. The rates were fixed under the AP revision of market value guidelines rules 1998. The corporation had brought the issue to the notice of the government.
“We have asked the government to amend GO 82 and fix the rent only on the structures but not the vacant land on the model market premises. We asked the government to decrease the rent to 10 per cent from the present 15 on the basis of current market value and carpet areas,” the official said.
GHMC constructed model markets at Beerappagadda, Gandhinagar, Premvathipet, Chandanagar, Moosapet. The corporation finished the tenders for 64 shops and is yet to finalise terms for 30 more. He said 18 shops had been allocated to SC/ST and BC beneficiaries, where the minimal rent was 10 per cent of current market value.