North Corporation introduces cluster scheme for leasing out community halls

New Delhi: The cash-strapped North Delhi Municipal Corporation has come up with an innovative way to boost its revenue by initiating the process of renting out its 42 community halls on a cluster basis.

The corporation has formed three clusters of community halls, each one including properties at prime as well as interior locations.

Each cluster has more than 12 community centres spread across a particular zone. For example, Cluster 1 will have community halls in Bungalow Road, Ashok Vihar as well as Ram Pura while Cluster 2 would have properties in Rohini, Prashant Vihar and Shadipur and Cluster 3 will include community halls located in areas such as East Patel Nagar, Karampura and Inder Puri.

The agency has invited tenders for renting out all the three clusters on a monthly licensing fees of Rs 1.03 crore.

A community centre cluster will be allotted to the highest bidder, which will be allowed to utilise the site for organising wedding receptions, social events and other gatherings.

The project will fetch Rs 12.38 crore per year and ensure better facilities (including parking space) to user as the contractor will need to submit maintenance report of the site at regular intervals.

The decision has been taken following the success of its cluster advertisement policy that was launched in 2016. “Though the decision to lease out upper floor of community halls was taken last year, but contractors preferred the halls at prime locations as it would help them generate more revenue. Our purpose of renting out these properties is to ensure regular maintenance besides generating revenue,” said senior official, North Corporation.

“So we decided to form clusters with each of them having combination of halls in prime as well as interior locations. For example, cluster I includes community halls at Bungalow Road, Ashok Vihar as well as Ram Pura,” the official said.

“We will also carry random checks to find out the property is not being misused or lying in a shabby state,” said the official.

North Corporation has been unable to pay its employees for the last two months. The civic body has a host of properties located at prime locations in north and west Delhi, which remain underutilised.

Last year, the corporation had also initiated work over the project for renting spaces for ATMs in 635 properties, including community centres, hospitals and dispensaries, zonal offices and primary schools.