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Mr Rohtas Goel

S. Shanker

Mumbai, Sept. 15 Delhi-based developer Omaxe Ltd is on the lookout for business partners in 140 locations across the country to build one million ‘affordable’ homes in eight years. The company intends investing Rs 500 crore in the venture.

The proposed units would be of 300 to 1,000 sq ft, in the price band of Rs 2.99 lakh to Rs 9.99 lakh. The township projects of 100-plus acre, primarily in two and three-tier cities, will consist of multiple buildings of ground-plus-two floors.

Speaking on the sidelines of a FICCI conference on real estate here on Thursday, Mr Rohtas Goel, Chairman, Omaxe Ltd, said the company would work in association with local ‘business partners’ in each of the locations, whose primary responsibility would be to buy land on behalf of the company, liaison, and market the units, in addition to bringing in investment for the land. “We have received over 1,000 applications from prospective partners in the last few days,” he said.

The partners would be compensated in terms of commission for each of the responsibilities. Investors in land would get an assured return of 20 per cent on the property value (not project value).

Detailing a self-sustaining model, wherein land investment is taken care of, Mr Goel said the construction would be executed by Omaxe Construction and Infrastructure Ltd. The initial funding of Rs 500 crore would come from the parent company, which could be from either internal accruals or through debt, he said.

Construction cost has been pegged at Rs 600 a sq ft, and the company would not exceed the floor area ratio of one, as any excess construction would call for additional expenditure, with the company keen in ensuring floor space index cost per sq ft at Rs 100.

Asked if the company had factored in default in payments, Mr Goel said the projects were envisaged to have multiple ground-plus-two units, and this gave it the flexibility to weed out defaulters in a cluster and offer the units to prompt remittances.

Pre-cast or prefabrication appears to be the key to affordable housing for scaling down cost without compromising on quality.

Omaxe is in talks with German companies for transfer of technology relating to pre-cast/prefabrication, which, besides saving on material, would also reduce construction time substantially. Companies such as Mumbai-based Matheran Realty are already using pre-engineered formwork in its project.

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