According to the plan drawn by the LDA, the houses will not only be at par with the houses developed by private developers but also be cheaper.

According to LDA officials, the group housing will be developed under the Mansarovar scheme of Kanpur Road, Jankipuram scheme of Kursi Road and Sector 1 and 4 of the Gomti Nagar Extension. “The layout has been prepared, and registrations are expected to be open by next month, said S S Mishra, Secretary of LDA.

“The scheme aims at providing best quality houses to people at affordable rates. It will have four-storeyed building, having two categories of two and three bedroom apartments,” he said.  

The rates will be Rs 14 lakh for a two-bedroom apartment and Rs 19 lakh for three-bedroom ones. “The quality of apartment would be such that the 14-lakh apartment will be comparable to the 25 to 30 lakh flat of private builder,” an official said. “The total number of houses will depend on the number of applications received. We will not go for construction of more houses than demanded as the apartments may lie vacant after completion. We may, however, scrap scheme in a particular area if number of applications from there is too few. Land is no constraint for us,” he added.

The official, however, said the housing scheme is going to be popular. “We’ll be providing houses at lower rates. Multistorey buildings are in demand as land is shrinking in the city. Also, the areas where the housing would be developed are already developed areas of the LDA, so the residents will not have any problems,” he said.

An LDA official said that the decision was taken after recent meetings between the LDA officials and the Lucknow Divisional Commissioner, Vijay Shankar Pandey, also chairman of the LDA.