The Telangana government is set to engage private sector on a large scale for the Musi Riverfront Development project so as to prevent bureaucratic delays and to economise on funding.
Land pooling is being projected as the most viable option for the comprehensive development of the surroundings of the Musi river, to circumvent the hassles associated with land acquisition.
As per an official estimate, the project is expected to cost over $7 billion or close to ₹60,000 crore. It has been proposed to finance the project through a variety of sources, including government resources, multilateral funding agencies, financial markets and private-sector funding.
A significant portion of the project cost will be funded by the commercialisation of identified land parcels along the river, the project document said.
The land in the 130-180 square kilometres area enclosed by a distance of up to 1.5 km on either side of the river between Narsingi to the west and Gowrelli to the east assumes enormous significance in this context, redesigning of which is expected to transform the core city’s landscape beyond recognition.
The government is seriously considering land pooling as an option to make the property owners along the river stakeholders in the development, rather than go through the cumbersome process of land acquisition, which entails heavy financial burden.
However, unlike the model earlier, whereby the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) would pool private land parcels, develop them as one layout and allot 60% of the developed land as the owners’ share, the land this time will be pooled and handed over to private developers.
For this, the 50-acre minimum limit for the land pooling scheme will be done away with, and the option will be offered even for land parcels much smaller in extent.
Officials on condition of anonymity said that the plan is to hand over even government land parcels to private developers, under public-private-partnership mode, for commercialisation and creation of supporting infrastructure.
The project proposal envisions development of people’s plazas, cycle tracks, green spaces, hawker zones, bridges, recreational and tourist areas, sports facilities, parking areas, commercial and retail spaces and hospitality infrastructure.
Moreover, all encroachments will be removed from the river’s maximum water level, and a road corridor will be developed connecting the city’s east with west. There are also plans to close access to the river in the thickly populated areas between Chaderghat and Langar Houz through construction of retaining walls.
