Chandigarh: Before ‘high price’ ends MLA flats dream, a final reminder
CHANDIGARH: More than three years in the works but headway still eludes the proposed Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) high-end flat project for MLAs and senior official at IT Park.
While the UT administration prepares to send a last reminder to Punjab and Haryana demanding release of their share of funds for the project, both states, it is learnt, are not keen to invest in “such a costly project”.
For Haryana, availability of the vacant land right next to IT Park at Mansa Devi Complex in Panchkula at much cheaper rates, and insistence of the UT for a state-to-state transaction are major dampeners too.
Haryana legislative assembly speaker Gian Chand Gupta said, “The state government had held meetings with UT officials on the issue. There was a proposal that the CHB may directly sell the flats to the MLAs. But the UT has maintained that it has to be a state-to-state transaction.”
A senior UT official said, “On Monday, we will issue the last reminder to both the states. We have already sent them more than 10 reminders for payment of their share of funds but no positive response has been received. If again no response comes, we will shelve the project.”
Both Punjab and Haryana in 2019 had agreed to pay Rs 66 crore each for their share of the flats.
The administration is exploring option of converting the project into a general housing for the general public.
“We have given detailed presentations about the project to both states and at the time they had agreed at the cost of the project. In the first instalment, they were to pay 25% of their share,” said the official.
The project conceived in 2019 comprises 10 towers with 28 flats each. The minimum price of a unit was estimated to be Rs 2 crore.
The high-end flat project is to come up on 6.75-acre land, part of the 123 acres that was transferred from Parsvnath developers to the CHB.
The project is to come on one of the 11 residential sites. In two plots, the CHB plans to construct around 728 flats under a general housing scheme which will be open for general public. The CHB is awaiting environmental clearance for the project.
The other residential sites are to be auctioned and developed by private developers for multi-storey apartments. The plot areas in these vary from 3.5 acre to 6 acre.
An 8.23-acre site has been reserved for a hospital site. The reserve price of the site is expected to be about Rs 200 crore. The CHB also plans to auction a hotel site in the area.