The Indian Express              28.10.2013 

VUDA a step closer to redeveloping Madhavnagar, Keshavnagar 

Almost a month after the Vadodara Urban Development Authority (VUDA) decided to redevelop the Madhavnagar and Keshavnagar colonies, the authority has now finalised its tender process.

According to VUDA officials, the authority will float the online tender by the end of the coming week, before Diwali, so that the bids can be finalized by mid-November.

The residents of the Madhavnagar and Keshavnagar societies had been promised, in writing, of finalizing the tender within November. Accordingly, VUDA decided to open the e-tender process. The redevelopment plan was approved at one of its board meeting on October 3. The bids are expected to be finalized by the middle of November.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Assistant Chief Engineer and Assistant Town Development Officer AC Vyas said, "We have laid down the prerequisite qualifications required for the bids and will invite e-tenders by next week before Diwali. Once the bids come in, we will select the one that meets the criteria and finalize it."

It was decided that the two colonies will be reconstructed under a Public Private Partnership (PPP), after residents opposed the authority's plan to combine the two colonies into a single re-developed colony in Madhavnagar.

Vyas said the ground plus five-storey structures in both the locations will be used for rehabilitation of the families, and once the families have been settled, the remaining land will be utilised by the developer for private sale. "Decision on the number of buildings to be constructed on each plot has not been taken. We will give the builders the liberty to chalk out a plan," Vyas says. The developers will be allowed to construct taller private buildings.