Ongole: Speculation about the chances of Ongole becoming capital of Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation seems to have boomeranged on local realtors as no land owner is coming forward to sell land expecting more returns in future.
Hundreds of realtors, including big firms, in the district headquarters town are struggling to manage their regular costs due to zero transactions in the last two months.
On the other hand, landrelated disputes have also risen as land owners, who took advance payment before the Congress Working Committee (CWC) cleared the resolution to bifurcate the state, are now refusing to honour their commitments.
“We don’t know what will finally happen. But the situation has suddenly turned grim as no one is selling land,” said G Chandrasekhar, a local real estate firm owner. In addition to this, the indefinite strike launched by government employees has brought activities in the realty sector to a grinding halt. Meanwhile, land prices have gone through the roof. Rumours about the Centre considering Ongole as the new capital has shot up prices of land not only in the town but also its surrounding mandals like Kothapatnam, Tangutur, Singarayakonda, Maddipadu and Santhanuthalapadu.
Even those who were skeptical of Ongole’s chances due to scarcity of land and drinking water appear to be convinced now. Land rates in the town have tripled from Rs 10,000 per square yard to Rs 30,000 per square yard.
This is not the first time that the town has seen a price boom. Prices had gone up four years ago when the state government announced the ambitious Vanpic project under which ports, airport, factories and ship yards were to come up.
However, this boost turned bust after the Vanpic project was mired in scandals and controversies.
However, two years later, another price hike in the land rates around Singarayakonda, Ulavapadu and Tangutur mandals came due to reports about the location of a new port near Ramayapatnam village.
This too was short-lived as the project was shifted to Dugarajapatnam in Nellore district Since then, the prices have picked up again after the announcement on Telangana.
Even though the land owners have witnessed sharp rises and falls in the past, they are of the view that the land rates would not go down even if Ongole is not designated as capital as the town could be a buffer zone to the capital located between either Vijayawada-Guntur or Kurnool-Tirupati.
Source: TimesOfIndia
