MMRDA's 'overpriced' BKC plot attracts zero interest

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) thought it would once again hit pay dirt when it decided to put up one of its prime plots in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) on the block. However, its expectations turned out to be grossly exaggerated.

On Wednesday, the plot found no takers — not a single developer turned up for the bids at the MMRDA office. Developers and real estate experts blamed the MMRDA for fixing an "unrealistic reserve price'' for this 3,162 square metre (less than an acre) commercial plot in BKC's G-block.

MMRDA sources admitted in private that the base price of Rs 3 lakh per square metre fixed for the plot was overpriced. "Developers were not able to afford it,'' they said. While realty prices in the BKC for a finished office space is in the range of Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 a square foot, the cost of this plot itself works out to around Rs 30,000 a square foot.

The plot was to be leased out for 80 years and the maximum built-up area offered for commercial office construction was 14,500 square metres. The reserve price would have fetched it Rs 435 crore. But Wednesday's no-show showed that MMRDA's ambitions to earn money and boost the realty market after a phase of recession turned out to be a dud.

The tenders were purchased by Vinita Estates (Wadhwa Group), Godrej Properties, Top Value Real Estate Development (Peninsula Group), Housing Development & Infrastructure (HDIL), Oberoi Realty, Shree Yashraj Developers, Bharti Realty and Star Light Systems.