The Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) has planned to auction 79 commercial booths and 14 residential dwelling units on a freehold basis. According to officials, the auction process will start next week.
The prospective bidders will be allowed to inspect the residential as well as the commercial units. The units will be allotted to the highest bidder, quoting above the reserve price. The GST will not be applicable on the consideration/premium of the unit in case of residential properties and built-up commercial units. However, in case of allotment of units on a leasehold basis, GST will be applicable on lease money/ground rent payable annually.
After nearly a decade, the CHB is all set to launch its general housing scheme with stilt-plus-six storey flats in Sector 53. The officials said 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 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, a chunk of nearly 11 acres has 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.
The housing scheme had 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.