Golden Gate Properties, the Bangalore-based real estate firm, has announced plans to develop affordable homes in a Rs 500-crore integrated township in Hyderabad and 10 other cities in southern India, starting with Chennai and to be followed later by Vizag, Vijayawada, Mysore, Coimbatore, Cochin and several others.

The company launched its first Commune project in Bangalore in August. The Hyderabad Commune, according to K.Pratap, MD, will be self-contained, its site being Tellapur close to the Gachi Bowli IT hub. About 3,500 units are to be built, with the price starting from Rs 19.9 lakh and offering two and three bedroom flats spread over 990 sq. ft.-1,490 sq ft.

Meanwhile Merlin Group, a Kolkata developer, also plans to invest Rs 40 crores to set up an affordable housing project christened Merlin Uttara in the city’s northern suburbs. The much-in-demand budget apartments of the project, expected to be completed by 2011, will be available at prices ranging from Rs. 10 kahs to Rs. 22 lakhs. The group has further lined up similar projects in Barrackpore, Barasat, Sonarpur, Hoogly and Howrah, which would be ready in the next three years. These would entail an investment of Rs 250 crores with a target of 20 lakh sq. ft. for the affordable housing segment, according to Sushil Mohta, MD.