Flats for Punjab, Haryana officials: Chandigarh admn may shelve project

Major stakeholders in the project, Punjab and Haryana are yet to deposit their share of funds, according to the Chandigarh Housing Board

The UT administration is considering shelving the ambitious project to come up with luxury flats for officials and MLAs of Punjab and Haryana at IT Park, as both governments are yet to fulfil their financial commitments to the project.

The Chandigarh Housing Board has already finalised the architectural plans for the project, which is to come up on 6.73 acres at IT Park. (HT FIle Photo)

“We want to proceed with the project, but Punjab and Haryana, who are major stakeholders in the project, are yet to deposit their share of funds. In this situation, we cannot move ahead with the project. A final decision will be taken in the upcoming meeting of the CHB board,” said a senior CHB official.

CHB has already finalised the architectural plans for the project, which is to come up on 6.73 acres. The board plans to construct 10 towers with 28 flats, each having a base price of ₹2 crore. In September 2019, CHB had sought opinions of both governments regarding these flats for their officials. Additionally, PGIMER had also expressed willingness to buy the flats. All three agencies are expected to pay ₹66 crore each for their share of flats.

CHB officials have given presentations on different aspects of the project to the Punjab and Haryana officials, who have repeatedly assured that the payment will be made. But even after repeated reminders, they haven’t released 25% payment.

The project land is part of the 123 acres that CHB got back from Parsvnath Developers after a long-drawn legal battle. It was in October 2006 that CHB had decided to develop residential, commercial and other infrastructure with Parsvnath Developers at IT Park, but the project didn’t take off because of multiple reasons. Thereafter, CHB failed to sell 18 residential and commercial sites at an e-auction in 2018, primarily due to the high reserved prices. Thereafter, it decided to launch a general housing scheme on two of the plots.

Of the 11 residential sites, the high-end flats for government officials are planned to come up on one. In two plots, CHB will construct 728 flats and offer it to public under a general housing scheme. The rest of the eight sites are likely to go under hammer in a month’s time.

In these freehold plots ranging from 3.5 acre to 6 acres, multi-storey apartments will come up, to be constructed by private developers. CHB is also planning to auction off an 8.23-acre site, which is reserved for a hospital. The leasehold plot was earlier put up for auction with a reserved price of ₹344 crore in September 2017, but despite many extensions, there was no response from buyers.