According to officials, the Urban Planning Department has sanctioned the S+6 plan for the general housing scheme in Sector 53. The officials stated that nearly 250 flats each of different categories would be constructed on two plots measuring 4.50 acres each.

As the flats would be constructed by private developers, the CHB would now hold an auction for the plots.

In October last year, Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria had directed the CHB to divide 9-acre land parcel into two pockets which would be then developed by private developers.

Scrapped several times despite two demand surveys, the CHB will now auction the site for the group housing scheme. The auction will be held in a fair and transparent manner and any private developer could participate in it, stated the officials.

Spread over nearly 21 acres in Sector 53, nearly 11 acres have been earmarked for a general housing scheme for employees of the UT Administration.

A demand survey completed in March last year received 7,468 applications for only 372 flats -nearly 20 applicants per unit -indicating a strong demand for CHB houses. Applicants deposited Rs 10,000 for HIG and MIG categories and Rs 5,000 for EWS units.

The housing scheme has been derailed several times for nearly a decade. First proposed in 2018, the scheme received just 178 applications for 492 flats, primarily due to high prices - Rs 1.8 crore for a three-bedroom, Rs 1.5 crore for a two-bedroom and Rs 95 lakh for a one-bedroom unit - forcing the CHB to withdraw the scheme.

In August 2023, the CHB had revived the scheme, but then UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit put it on hold. However, his successor, Gulab Chand Kataria, revived it. He instructed the UT chief architect to explore options of dividing the land and auctioning part of it.

The last CHB scheme was floated in 2016 for 200 two-bedroom flats in Sector 51.