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Chandigarh: Setback for CHB, Purohit puts Sector 53 housing scheme on hold
Notably, CHB had revived the scheme in February this year, five years after it was scrapped in 2018 over poor response from buyers, primarily due to high flat rates
In a major jolt for the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB), UT administrator Banwarilal Purohit has put its Sector-53 general housing scheme on hold, stating that there is no need for the scheme currently.
As a result, the board has cancelled the ₹200-crore tenders floated on August 2 for construction of 340 flats on nine acres.
On August 2, HT had reported that though the board was yet to get approval from the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC) for the scheme, the board had floated the tenders and was planning to launch the scheme on August 15.
Notably, the board had revived the scheme in February this year, five years after it was scrapped in 2018 over poor response from buyers, primarily due to high flat rates.
UT adviser-cum-CHB chairman Dharam Pal said during a meeting, chaired by the UT administrator on August 3, he stated there was no need for the scheme at the moment. “The land on which the flats are to be constructed is precious and he suggested saving it for future generations, allowing for expansion of the city,” Pal added.
He said the UT administrator further emphasised that CHB should focus on its ongoing works.
The board had planned to offer 340 flats in three categories — 192 three-bedroom, 100 two-bedroom and 48 two-bedroom EWS flats, for ₹1.65 crore, ₹1.40 crore and ₹55 lakh, respectively.
When the scheme was first floated in 2018, the three-bedroom flat was offered for as high as ₹1.8 crore, two-bedroom flat for ₹1.5 crore and one-bedroom flat for ₹95 lakh. As a result, the scheme, which was touted as the most expensive public housing project in the city’s history, received only 178 applications against the 492 flats on offer.
Even after the board slashed the proposed rates by 15% to attract more buyers, the response did not improve, leading to the project’s scrapping.
With no housing scheme coming either in the private or public sector in the city, housing prices have steadily increased, making owning a house out of bounds for most city residents. In the absence of private developers, residents depend solely on the administration for new projects. But it has failed to introduce any housing scheme since 2016.
In the last scheme, CHB in 2016 had offered 200 two-bedroom flats in Sector 51 for ₹69 lakh each. One new general housing scheme by CHB, planned at the IT Park, is awaiting environment clearances.
Under the scheme, CHB plans to construct 728 flats in three categories in seven-storey towers on IT Park plots 1 and 2, which are spread over 16.6 acres, for the general public.
The scheme will have 28 four-bedroom, 448 three-bedroom and 252 two-bedroom flats. The project land is part of 123 acres that CHB got back from Parsvnath Developers after a long-drawn legal battle.
