Government would build 960 houses for the owners of the Singanallur housing unit apartments through a joint venture with a builder, housing minister S Muthusamy said.
After a meeting with owners of Singanallur housing board flat owners in the city on Sunday, Muthusamy told reporters that the new apartments would be more spacious, stronger and better than the existing one.
“The current housing unit lacks several amenities. We have discussed providing a lot more amenities in the new housing unit,” he said. Muthusamy said the 960 houses were built more than 35 years back. Over the years the building got damaged, and the structure was weakened so much that residents could no longer live there. The owners of the housing units have been demanding the government to rebuild the housing unit.
Recalling that former DMK minister Pongalur N Palaniswamy as well as party’s former SInganallur MLA N Karthik had raised the issue several times, Muthusamy said that when chief minister M K Stalin learned about the plight of the housing board residents, he directed the minister to resolve the issue.
“So, we have held discussions with the owners and took a decision. A 22-member committee comprising representatives from the apartment owners has been constituted for the purpose. All decisions pertaining to the construction will be taken only after discussion with the committee,’’ he said.
However, details like the total area of the proposed housing unit, area of each apartment and number of floors in the building are yet to be worked out. While the state government has proposed to spend about Rs 90 crore initially, the builder would be investing a portion of the amount required for building. In return, the builder would be given a certain number of flats which he could sell and recover the money invested.
