Jaipur:
After lying unfinished for about a decade, the residential blocks developed by the Rajasthan Housing Board (RHB) in sector 10 of Pratap Nagar, are all set to be converted into swanky new flats.
The hundred-odd flats, which were developed in the late 1990s did not finds any takers as the concept of apartment-living had not caught up with the city's populace. But with a sudden spurt in the land price in Jaipur, few could afford bungalows, making people turn to apartments.
"These buildings have been lying idle for many years. With a rise in the demand and acceptability of flats we had asked experts at Malviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT) to check if the building structure is still strong enough to be declared fit for use," said RHB chairman Lalit Kothari.
After the engineers at MNIT submitted a viability report on the building structure, the RHB invited tenders to develop one of the five blocks of the G+2 building on pilot basis. The block will be named after one of the five rivers in Punjab.
Sources say that all the five blocks will be completed in phases. "We [RHB] have undertaken the work for strengthening and finishing the building. We will be allotting the first block to the applicant on the RHB waiting list within a year's time," Kothari said.
Engineers say strengthening work for the building structures has to be carried out first and then the testing will be done. "We would also carry out the cost and benefit studies," an RHB official said.
"The project was planned ahead of what the public could have accepted back then. Thankfully, we now have technology to make use of such old structures. After strengthening work is over and the building is fully-developed, they will be as good as new," said Dinesh Sharma, an architect.
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