GMADA gears up to relaunch Eco City-3 project

GMADA authority is set to acquire 720 acres for the project, awaiting CM’s nod; under the project, residential, commercial, and institutional properties are to come up on 720 acres acquired from six villages - Rajgarh, Takipur, Kartarpur, Kansala, and Hoshiarpur

Two years after scrapping land acquisition for Urban Estate Eco City-3 at New Chandigarh, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) is set to acquire around 720 acres for the project again.

In July 2020, GMADA was forced to scrap the acquisition process owing to shortage of funds, and poor response to its land pooling scheme. Only 118 of 450 landowners had come forward at the time. (HT File)

The executive committee of GMADA has already given a go-head for the acquisition but the final nod is to be given by the Punjab chief minister during a meeting slated on August 18.

Under the project, residential, commercial, and institutional properties are to come up on 720 acres acquired from six villages - Rajgarh, Takipur, Kartarpur, Kansala, and Hoshiarpur.

The land will be acquired on the basis of land pooling policy, as per which, for every acre, landowners will get 1,100 square yards of industrial plots and 200 square yards of developed commercial plot, excluding parking, instead of cash compensation.

In July 2020, GMADA was forced to scrap the acquisition process owing to shortage of funds, and poor response to its land pooling scheme. Only 118 of 450 landowners had come forward at the time.

After GMADA’s decision to defer the project, some private players had swooped in and bought around 150 acres in the same area, prompting the development authority to take prohibitory measures. The then additional chief secretary, department of housing and urban development, Sarvjit Singh, had ordered that no change-of-land use (CLU) certificate or licence will be issued to any builder in the Eco City-3 or Medicity -- another GMADA project-- areas.

On the Authority’s latest decision, land acquisition officer Amarinder Singh Tiwana said, “We will be acquiring around 720 acres of land after getting the final approval. Once the acquisition is completed, the Eco City-3 scheme will be launched.”

Meanwhile, the ‘Aerotropolis’ scheme of GMADA, which was to be launched in May this year, is set to see a delay of another six months as a case regarding around 250 acres is pending in the court. The development authority had sent the case to the court as the landlords had got their land registered after notification of Section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act. The Act pertains to preliminary notification for acquiring land and calling objections from landowners.