No response to NMC redevelopment projects, Gadkari urges NIT to take over
Nagpur Municipal Corporation
(NMC) failed to attract even a single bidder for the redevelopment of two prime properties — Sokhta Bhavan and
Cotton Market fire station
— despite repeated tendering efforts. Now, city MP and Union minister Nitin Gadkari has recommended that the
Nagpur Improvement Trust
(NIT) takes over the Cotton Market project to fast-track its revival.
In a bid to salvage the situation, NMC slashed the base price of Sokhta Bhavan project by 11% (from Rs144 crore to Rs128 crore), and is preparing to float fresh tenders to revive developer interest. Despite invitations issued on November 27, 2024, and again on January 10, 2025, the project — located on a sprawling 28,922sqm plot at Gandhibagh — received no response from developers. The plan envisions a G+14 multi-level commercial complex with a total built-up area of 3,48,617sqm. Consequently, NMC's high-level policy committee intervened and approved an 11% reduction in the base value to make the project more financially appealing. A fresh tender is now being readied by the project department.
The Sokhta Bhavan setback underlines the wider challenges NMC faces in its attempts to generate revenue through the redevelopment of old properties in high-value areas. Officials admitted developers found the project's earlier valuation unattractive, given the massive upfront investment, construction complexities, and the ongoing real estate sector slowdown. The repeated failures raised serious concerns about the civic body's dependency on private players to infuse new life into ageing city properties.
NMC faced a similar situation in its Cotton Market fire station (Ganeshpeth) redevelopment project — pitched as the city's first integrated fire station-commercial complex. The Rs62 crore plan, spread over 2,589.7sqm, proposes a ground-floor fire station, administrative offices on the first floor, and a commercial complex across six upper floors to rehabilitate 30 displaced shopkeepers. Yet, here too, no bids were received.
On April 19, Gadkari stepped in, suggesting the NMC hand over such critical redevelopment projects to NIT, hinting at the civic body's struggle to deliver. Both projects were structured under the design, build, finance, operate, and sale (DBFOS) model, with a commercial rate of Rs14,051 per sqm.
While the Sokhta Bhavan proposal included two basement levels for parking to ease congestion in Gandhibagh, concerns surfaced about the reduced space for fire tenders — from four bays to just three — leading to a review by the NMC fire department.
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